Reveal Your Secrets
by RegulusBlackIsAHero
Summary: When Sirius drags Peter under the Whomping Willow in third year, it reveals that Crookshanks is actually an Animagus. Regulus Black survived the inferi in 1979 and transformed into his Animagus, with no intent to return to the human world. Now, with his secret revealed, what will he do? Will Sirius trust the brother he had come to accept was a Death Eater, and then dead? AU
1. Under the Willow We Go

"He won't – stay – put –" I heard that annoying redhead say. Figures. Of course that dumb rat would try and run again. He had already faked his death twice, and he knew Sirius was coming after him. Slowly, in my cat animagus form, I stalked closer. My orange (It still annoys me that my fur makes me so noticeable) fur brushing the ground. This was it. I had to help Sirius prove his innocence. He deserved it after so long in Azkaban.

It had always seemed unfair that Sirius was punished for a crime he_ didn't_ commit, while I, a former Death Eater, wasn't. Pettigrew could tell Sirius was coming. _I_ could tell Sirius was coming. Wormtail was thrashing back and forth, squeaking like a coward. _How the hell did that rat make it into Gryffindor? _

"What's the matter with him?" the rat's owner asked. I snarled at his voice. The redhead was a complete idiot. If it wasn't for him, I could have brought Pettigrew to Sirius a long time ago. Merlin knows I've tried. Still creeping closer, I looked up into the eyes of my brother's godson. 'Please don't be an idiot and protect the rat!' I pleaded silently. Obviously, the mud- muggleborn (Merlin! Even after more than a decade I still have trouble not using that word. It isn't even to offend them anymore. I think its more habit!) didn't listen for she moaned,

"Crookshanks! No, go away, Crookshanks! Go away!" Ha, fat chance of that happening. I'm doing all I can to help my brother, even if he's too thick to realize that it was really I, Regulus Black. Sirius was an utter fool. I mean, he's met with me ever since he saw me watching him one day. That was pretty dumb on my part. I used to be tons better at acting like a spy. Strangely, as I usually acted with caution, I had decided that I had to see Sirius. It was obvious he would be in the Forbidden Forest, and I had found him using scent. Of course, Sirius had seen me, though not recognized me for who I truly was.

Blood pounding in my ears, I crept forward, careful not to make a sound. I could catch him. The conversation buzzed in my ears, and I ignored it, focusing on Pettigrew. He was squeaking like mad; had he recognized me for whom I really was? No. No, Pettigrew wasn't smart enough. He just believed I was a mad cat out to get him.

One step. Two steps. My orange (Merlin I hate that colour!) paws stepping silently across the grass. Without truly knowing where I was, I chased the rat under a large tree. This is it. For Sirius. Just as I prepared to pounce on the vile traitor, the idiot redhead grabbed him. Angrily, I lashed my tail back and forth. For a second, I had half the mind to transform and yell at the redhead. I wonder why the voice telling me to do that sounding like Sirius' (I mean, it's not like he's reckless or anything. Course not.) Obviously, that would have been a bad idea. As I stood there, ignoring his very degrading attempts to shoo me away, I saw a familiar, large shape moving up behind the other kids. It was Sirius.

He jumped over James Potter's kid, knocking him heavily to the ground, and grabbed the redhead's arm in his mouth. I hissed at Sirius' stupidity. This was not the way to get them to trust Sirius. With a horrid snap, the redhead's leg broke, and he slid under the Whomping Willow. This was it. A whipping branch caught the other two children and flung them backwards. They were bleeding. As they stood once more, I dodged the branches quickly and pressed the knot on the trunk. The tree immediately stopped, and I raced below. As I got there, I saw Sirius transform into a man and heard the boy say in a terrified whisper,

"_Sirius Black." _I jumped up next to him, hissing wildly at the rat. Being another Animagus, Pettigrew could understand me if I said anything in my cat form, so I was careful not to. Instead, he spoke,

"I know who you are." He couldn't… Pettigrew wasn't smart enough to realize I was an Animagus, right? I didn't answer, for clear reasons. If I did, and he could understand me; then I'd be giving myself away. He was only bluffing, hoping for an extra escape route. It wouldn't work. Pettigrew gave the equivalent of a chuckle in his rat form.

"If I go to Azkaban, then you will too. I doubt you've forgotten, but you used to be a Death Eater, _Regulus_." I froze for a second, stiff with disbelief. How did he know? It – it wasn't possible. I had already long ago decided that I wouldn't return to human form for Sirius. It would just complicate things, and I'd either end up in Azkaban for being a (ex) Death Eater or dead for betraying them. Course, they thought I had only run, but in truth I had done so much more than that. I had stolen a Horcrux. Kreacher had had a long time to destroy it, and he had by no doubt accomplished that by now. After all, it has been fourteen years since I gave him it. Shaking my head slightly to remove these thoughts from my head, I focused on the scene before me. The girl and Potter's son had come. Of course they did. That was what Sirius had been planning on (not that any of his plans ever actually work.)

"Ron – are you okay?" he sounded slightly puzzled, and I could see the clear question in his mind: Where was the dog?

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog," I winced at the pain in the redhead – Ron's – voice_. "He's the dog… he's an Animagus…"_

Sirius stepped out from behind the door with a maniac grin on his face. He looked absolutely insane (meaning he looked as he normally did.) I took a deep breath as the girl – Hermione, I believe – screamed in shock. Here we go…

**Hi! Please read and review! This is going to be an ongoing project, but I'll try to get the next chapter up soon! I think it'll be a lot longer than this one, but I'm not entirely sure yet! **

**I claim full ownership for…**

**NOTHING! J.K. Rowling owns all places, characters, etc. **


	2. Revealing Regulus

"Expelliarmus!" Sirius croaked. I winced at the unused sound of his voice. At school, I had always wished Sirius was more quiet, more discrete. Now, obviously, I had long since learned that Sirius Black was never quiet. He was always making a ruckus. From pranks to escaping Azkaban, Sirius Black was not one to be lost in the mix. No, oh Merlin, no. If something important was happening, then he'd be there. Except, of course, when I'd needed him.

After he'd run away, he left me there. I, at that point, just let myself drift under Bella's wing. It was easiest to follow her, and at that point, I really did believe Sirius was disgracing our family. Sirius spoke again, dragging me out of my memories.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," Sirius started. I winced. Sirius had never been one for tact, and I already knew this was not going to be well-worded. I suppose it was brother intuitive. Sure enough, in the next sentence, Sirius mentioned James Potter.

"Your father would have done the same for me." Damn you, Sirius! Why do you always make everything worse! Just explain you're innocent and let us all get back to our regular lives! Or at least, let's get out of tonight without one of us receiving the Dementor's kiss! No, of course it couldn't work like that with Sirius. Instead, he made things even worse by saying,

"Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful… it will make everything much easier. " I let out a hiss over his stupidity. Really, Sirius? How thick can ya get? They think you're a mass murderer! Use your brain, I know you have one somewhere! I watched as Potter's son started to tremble with fury. Ah. So he's inherited James Potter's brains, or lack thereof. James Potter would have done something incredibly dumb in three… two… one…

"No, Harry!" Hermione said. I gave the equivalent to a snort in my cat form. Hermione stopped Harry just like Lupin would have stopped James Potter.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!" the redhead said vehemently. Brave kid. If he didn't hate me so much, he'd be okay. At least he was loyal, which was much more then I could say about one rat in this room. If only he hadn't stopped me from getting Pettigrew, though! Ugh! I saw something flicker in Sirius' eyes. Yes! It's proof he has a brain somewhere in there!

"Lie down. You will damage that leg even more." Yay! It's finally happened! Sirius Black has come to his senses! It was nice to be able to make fun of my brother, even if he couldn't hear me. I suppose it felt so nice to me because it reminded me of when we were children, before our family separated us.

Ron said more, but I didn't pay attention. So little of what he said was actually important… Well, actually, that wasn't true. Ron was a bright kid, though thick at times. In truth, I guess I was sorta upset over the fact that that boy was the only thing that had stood between me and Pettigrew. Once more I glanced at the rat. He was squeaking wordlessly in terror. Coward (though I'm not one to talk.) Sirius, losing his slightly sensible expression, grinned maniacally. Then he said,

"There'll only be one murder tonight." Bloody hell that was a dumb thing to say! How did someone that dumb break out of Azkaban. Never mind. It's Sirius. With him, the impossible seems rather normal. Sirius' tactless words were rewarded with a gasp from Hermione and seeing Ron's face pale drastically. Also, those words seemed to make Harry snap. Gritting my teeth at the idiots I was forced to work with, I watched as Harry snarled,

"Why's that? Didn't care last time, didn't you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those muggles to get at Pettigrew… What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?" I winced at how much the words must have cut Sirius. Sure enough, I could see a glimmer in his eyes that wasn't there before. It would be almost invisible to anyone who hadn't known Sirius before Azkaban. I could see it clearly, of course. It meant he was hurt. In this case, it had reopened a wound that had never come close to closing.

"Harry! Be quiet!" Hermione whimpered. Yes! I agree. Listen to the sane one. At the very least, don't do anything stu…

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!"

Too late. I watched as Harry dove at Sirius. Wincing, I watched as Sirius didn't brace himself in time and collapsed into a wall. Harry, showing a very violent side of him, starting punching Sirius. He stripped Sirius of all three of their wands. Wandless and broken at the fact that his godson just attacked him, Sirius lay huddled at Harry's feet. I watched as the blood rolled out of Sirius' nose and lip. Ouch.

Oh great Merlin. I'm going to have to fix this, aren't I? After all, I didn't come all this way, against all odds, only to be thwarted by thirteen year old we're trying to save. Gulping and knowing that I've got a lot of explaining to do, I prepared to change back. Before I could, however, Sirius hissed,

"No. I've waited too long –" His pale fingers grasped Harry's throat. Grimacing, knowing this would not help prove Sirius' innocence, I watched in complete silence. Then Hermione kicked him. And chaos erupted. Diving into the thick of things and hoping for some sort of control in this awkward situation, I went after Harry's wand. Just as it was within Harry's grasp, I dug my claws into his arm. Not liking the pain I was causing but knowing it was necessary, I pulled my claws out and lunged for the wand. Harry shoved me away angrily. I leapt aside, spitting furiously. Padding away with a sulky motion in my steps, I moved back to my original spot near Pettigrew.

When I turned back around, Harry stood pointing his wand furiously at Sirius.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" he whispered. I groaned. He sounded completely insane. Sirius' face was beginning to sport a livid purple bruise around his eye.

"You killed my parents," Harry said quietly, his voice shaking slightly. I glowered, recognizing the pain flashing through Sirius' haunted eyes. Those simple words could cut him so deep. Deep inside, I knew Sirius blames himself; I could see it in his face. Sure enough, Sirius said quietly,

"I don't deny it, but if you knew the whole story," Sirius sounded as if he was almost resigned to thinking Harry would blame him, and I felt my mouth turn into a thin line at his words.

"The whole story?" Harry repeated, temper flailing. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know." Sirius flinched slightly, though Harry and the other two kids didn't notice. Then Sirius said,

"You've got to listen to me. You'll regret it if you don't… you don't understand…" There was a note of urgency in Sirius' voice that really did make him seem like what he needed to say was important. Harry ignored the gut instinct and said furiously,

"I understand more than you think. You never heard her, did you? My mum… trying to stop Voldemort killing me… and you did that… you did it…" Unable to bear the pain and misery in Sirius' eyes and desperate to give him some sort of comfort, I launched myself onto him and thudded onto his chest.

"Get off," he murmured, but I didn't move.

"WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE – SIRIIUS BLACK – _QUICK _–" Startled, I almost fell off of Sirius but managed to regain my balance. Footsteps thudded the passageway towards the room we were in. The door flew open to reveal… Remus Lupin. Worried, I looked at his bloodless face.

"Expelliarmus!" I let out a sigh of relief as Harry's wand was flung into Lupin's hands, along with Hermione's and Ron's. Then Lupin spoke again, and I tensed,

"Where are they, Sirius?" How did he…? Did he know who I truly was? I slunk off of Sirius to the corner of the Shack. Sirius frowned looking a bit puzzled,

"_They_?" he repeated. Then he shook his head slightly, raised a hand and pointed at Ron's rat. Mystified, the other kids stared at Ron and Sirius, their gazes switching from one to the other. Lupin recognized the rat easily.

"And the other?" Lupin asked, unwilling to say my name. Sirius looked shocked.

"There's another?" Knowing that I had to reveal myself, I padded to the middle of the floor. Sirius' gaze met mine, and I saw realization spark into his eyes. Then I transformed. With a flash of blue light I stood there, still slightly shaky on my feet. It had been fourteen years since I was last in my human form.

There was a wild gasp from Hermione who sounded beyond shocked. Ron and Harry just gaped at me.

Sirius was staring at me, mouth open. I kept my head ducked down enough so that he wouldn't recognize me. After all, not counting our height and build, we looked alike enough to be twins. I wore short sleeves, like I had when I had transformed, and I winced as I noticed that the faint dark mark I still wore was clearly visible. Even though it was now more of a scar, Sirius and probably Lupin would recognize it for what it was. Wincing, I hid it from view. This was not a good way to start my story.

"Who are you?" Sirius demanded. I grinned to myself as I recognized the irony. He seemed slightly confused still, probably because I had been helping him.

"You don't recognize me, _Siri_?" I asked, calling him by his hated childhood nickname. Immediately, before he had a chance to think he shot back,

"Don't call me that, Reggie!" Then he froze. Realizing what he just said, his eyes flew open in shock. He exchanged a glance with Lupin and looked back to me.

"Reggie?" he asked quietly. I nodded, my throat too dry to speak. "How?" he asked quietly. "You're supposed to be dead… you were murdered fourteen year ago…" I shook my head slightly and informed Sirius,

"Tell the kids about Pettigrew, I'll tell you after they stop believing you're here to murder them." Sirius frowned at my words, obviously wondering whenever to trust me or not. After all, I was a Death Eater before my 'death'.

"Sirius," I snapped, annoyed, "Tell the kids! I'm not the one who is coward enough to try and escape!" He smiled grimly as I said that, recognizing the truth in my statement. Then he turned to Lupin, who was frowning at the rat again.

"But why hasn't he shown himself? Unless… Unless he was the one… And you switched… without telling me…" Sirius nodded slowly, his eyes focused on Lupin. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all staring at Sirius, Lupin, and myself, mouths gaping, eyes wide. If this wasn't such a serious (no, I do not mean to use that obnoxious, childish pun) situation, I'd have laughed. Finally, Harry spoke,

"Professor, what's going on - ?" Before Harry could finish the question, Lupin lowered his wand and embraced Sirius, pulling him off the floor. I grimaced at the sight: it was great that Lupin was finding out the truth, at last, but this was not a good time to be apparently 'aiding a murderer.' I turned to Hermione, whom I knew from experience had a pretty bad temper, even rivaling Harry's at times.

"I'm sorry. We're surrounded by idiots. The best thing to do now would be to listen to Sirius' explanation. I promise he's not as mad as he seems." Sirius heard me and snapped,

"Oi! Reggie! I'm not mad!" He seemed happier with his old friend back, though it did nothing to erase the haunted look in his eyes.

"Coulda fooled me," I muttered. Sirius pointedly ignored the comment. I turned back to Hermione, who whispered, deadly calm,

"But you're helping them, too…" I nodded in confirmation, answering,

"I am. I've come to many conclusions that I haven't been sure of, but I'm positive on this. Sirius is not an enemy…" And… that was when Hermione snapped,

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" I winced at the noise, muttering,

"I've never heard someone come so close to mother's shrieks…" No one heard him, though. Lupin, switching from watching me curiously to calming down the kids said,

"Hermione –" He was cut off as Hermione said,

"You… You and him!" Despite the tension, I heard Sirius snicker a little at the second meaning to those words. Throwing my hands into the air (not nearly as dramatically as Sirius would have), I exclaimed,

"I've changed my mind! _I'm _surrounded by idiots! Sirius is not here to hurt you!"

"Regulus!" Lupin reprimanded, "Hermione, calm down –"

"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. Feeling a reckless urge, I grinned and said,

"Actually, you told Crookshanks -"

"Shut up!" Hermione snapped, "I've been covering up for you –" I could see Lupin was growing desperate.

"Hermione, listen to me, please! I can explain –" Looking around at the mess, I saw that Harry was trembling with fury. Uh oh. From what I knew about Lily Potter (not much at all, really, seeing as she was muggleborn) there would be an explosion. Severus, who I had been rather close to, had introduced us, though we really hadn't got along that well. Seeing Harry's face redden, I prepared myself. Three… two… one…

"I trusted you! And all this time, you've been his friend!" Okay, so his temper wasn't as terrible and feared as Lily's had been.

"You're wrong," Lupin said simply, "I haven't been Sirius' friend –"

"You should've been," I interjected, earning myself more than one withering glare.

"NO!" Hermione screamed, "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too – _he's a werewolf_!" Truthfully furious (I have long given up prejudices, and Sirius really _had _to be given a chance to explain), I snapped,

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lupin looked shocked as I defended him, but Sirius was staring at me with something like pride in his gaze. Harry and Ron seemed shocked beyond belief.

"I – I –" Hermione stuttered. It seemed that she hadn't really thought about what she'd said. In fact, she had no reason for being a werewolf alone made him evil. Which was, of course, exactly my point.

"See?" I said, "It makes no difference. I used to be much worse than he was. My family was much worse than I was. Well, 'cept Sirius, of course…"

"And who _are_ you?" Ron asked pointedly. I grinned and said,

"Regulus Black. Sirius is my brother, and he was no Death Eater."

"How do you know?" Harry snapped at me. I grinned, slightly manically, and said,

"Because I was one."

**I didn't plan on ending it here, but I couldn't resist such a great cliffhanger! Hahahahahaha! I'm so evil! **

**On a more serious note, I feel like I need to explain a bit of this chapter's significance. **

**The reason it moves so slow in the beginning is because I wanted to show Regulus' personality and a bit of his history. It WILL speed up! **

**I made Regulus' personality rather logical but with a strange humor that seems to come out at the weirdest moments. Please tell me if I succeeded!**

**The reason the kids aren't more surprised is because they're in shock right now. I will show their reactions a bit later. Maybe a POV switch…**

**Disclaimer: As much as I love Harry Potter, it is not mine. J.K. Rowling: If you read this (which you won't because you have better things to do with your time than read fanfiction) you know what to give me for my birthday! It's in February, but I accept early presents! **

**Please read and Review! **

**Special thanks to Slashypotterness, Smithback, Mytho-magic Champion, Ashley Wrackspurt, and Dndchk!**


	3. Avoiding the Past

Harry, Hermione, and Ron backed away from me hastily. I chuckled at their horrorstruck faces. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sirius gaping at me. Clearly, he hadn't expected me to announce who I had been like that.

"You – You slept in my dorm!" Hermione shrieked. I grinned as she continued, "You slept in my bed!" I shrugged and said,

"I wasn't the only Death Eater in the Gryffindor dorms." This was the best to keep the discussion off of my own past. I wasn't ready to relive the cave, though I didn't have a choice in my nightmares. That was one of the reasons I stayed a cat for so long. I still had them in cat form, but they were much… easier.

"WHAT!" Hermione screamed. I continued as if she hadn't interrupted,

"Nor was I the only Death Eater who faked my own death." The sooner they found out the truth, the better we would all be. It wouldn't be long until the kids and Lupin were missed.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked mystified. Happy to answer this question and not ones of my own past, I said,

"I was not the only illegal Animagus either. Sirius?" With a surprised light in his eyes, he was about to take hold of the conversation when Hermione screeched,

"NO! You better tell me what this – this man – was doing in my dorm, as my pet!" I grinned at the question.

"Living, sleeping, eating…. You know, what you normally do in a dorm," I said, "As for being your pet: it was just luck that I ended up with you."

"_Luck_. LUCK! Did you come to kill Harry, _Death Eater_?" I held my head up in a self-aggrandizing way,

"I was a Death Eater. Now, I have no loyalty to them any longer." Ron snorted skeptically,

"Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater." Angry, I glared at him through narrowed eyes, but my tone stayed calm and casual,

"That's not true." Harry spoke,

"So, if you aren't here to kill me, then why are you here?" Thinking for a moment, I said,

"I'm here to help free Sirius and put the real rat in Azkaban. Though I must say, the Gryffindor Common Room is much nicer than the Slytherin one. I blame it on the dark, drafty dungeon it's in."

"No, it's because Gryffindor is the best," Sirius protested. I chuckled, all childhood feuds truly forgotten, and said,

"Then why were you in it?"

"Shut it, Reggie!" Sirius said, but he was grinning as we got along for the first time in years. Ron spoke next,

"How aren't you a Death Eater now? You can't just quit being a Death Eater!" I grimaced at the reminder of my past. Those days were terrible. I was at an edge, wondering if one of the times I was on a mission the Dark Lord would realize that it wasn't my youth keeping me from using the unforgivables. I hated the thought of hurting someone that much. To summon the hate needed, I discovered that I could only hate myself to make the spells work. The time I discovered that, I killed a muggle. It was terrible, like a part of my soul was ruined, broken. The others congratulated me, as if I should be proud of that. It was then that I discovered that I could not be a Death Eater any longer. I was never cruel, never harsh. I usually followed Bella and my other acquaintances without thinking for myself. Of course, that almost ended my life in the end. Realizing I had never answered Ron's question, I gave him a bit of vague truth,

"He doesn't know I'm alive. This is the first time I've been in this country since… since I betrayed the Dark Lord." Sirius narrowed his eyes at my short explanation and inquired,

"How exactly did you betray Voldemort?" Unable to face the memories just yet, I snapped,

"When did this become about me? Focus on Pettigrew!" Sirius ran a hand through his hair, clearly wanting an answer but seeing the truth to my words.

"You're right. Remus? How did you find out?" Remus looked at me suspiciously but didn't comment on what I had said. I suppose he couldn't read my expression as clearly as Sirius had always been able to.

"The map," Lupin stated. What map? "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it –"After a short moment, it came to me that Sirius and his group at school called themselves the Marauders. That's all the school needed. A legacy left behind from the Marauders.

"You know how to work it?" Harry asked Lupin with narrowed eyes.

"Of course I know how to work it," Lupin said impatiently, as he waved his hand, "I helped write it. I'm Moony – that was my friends' nickname for me at school." Something inside of me clicked as he said that. I had never really given much thought to my brother and his friends' nicknames. Lupin saying that made me realize that they corresponded to his condition and the others' Animagus forms. After I noticed, it became rather obvious.

"_You wrote_ -?" Harry began incredulously. I nearly laughed at his expression. He seemed absolutely astonished that someone who made something that was used to break rules was a professor. I had a strong feeling that Sirius would have felt the same way about a 'Marauder' becoming a professor while he had been in school. Now, he seemed so much more mature and serious. It was funny, really. Sirius had been insane at school. He must be the only person that went to Azkaban and came back more sane than when they left.

"Bit surprised to hear the _professor _broke some rules, Harry?" I said with a smile. Lupin glared at me for interrupting, but I just grinned back and cheerfully said, "Just because that glare works on my brother doesn't mean it'll work on me. " Harry didn't answer my question, so I continued, "I was a bit surprised myself. James Potter's reaction would have been _great_." That caught Harry's attention.

"You knew my dad?" he asked me suspiciously. I snorted.

"Not well. I was in the group of Slytherins that your father, the rat, and these two gits absolutely _tortured_. My clearest memory of him was when Severus, Leon, and I went after him, Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew because they charmed all of our robes pink. He ended up pushing me into the lake. It was January." Sirius muffled a laugh. Then he answered,

"You deserved it. Peter was in the hospital wing for three days because of that." I raised an eyebrow and said dryly,

"Oh really? And what are you planning to do to Pettigrew, now? Can I push _you _in the lake after you kill him?" Hermione looked shocked and repeated,

"_Kill him…" _Harry shouted,

"You already did kill him! It was twelve years ago!" I chuckled humorlessly and said,

"It was fourteen years ago when Leon Wilkes supposedly killed me. Just because the ministry believes someone to be dead doesn't mean they are." Sirius looked at me in surprise and said,

"Wilkes? But you two were friends! He tried to kill you?" I shook my head sadly. Even so long after Leon's death, I still missed him. We had been nearly inseparable at Hogwarts. He and I had been like Sirius and James Potter.

"No. He saved my life after I betrayed the Dark Lord. Then he told the Dark Lord he killed me. He told me he still supported the Dark Lord, but he wouldn't betray me. I know he took my secret to the grave as he was k-killed not three weeks after by Aurors." Hermione gasped at the revelation. I could feel Sirius' eyes burning into me.

I looked to the floor, emotions I had been burying for years welling up inside of me. Leon had truthfully been the only one to understand me at Hogwarts. Though being from a reputable pureblood family, he understood that I still saw Sirius as my brother, even though he hated him. Leon even told me I wasn't ready for the Death Eaters; I told him I was. The only other who even came close to knowing me as well was Severus. Whenever Sev felt like contacting the outside world, he would join us. Contrary to what most students thought, Severus really did have a sense of humor. You just had to know him well enough to understand it. Lupin then said, changing the subject for me,

""Do you think I could take a look at your rat?" Ron gaped in surprised but said furiously,

"What? What's my rat got to do with anything?" Ron really was quite slow at picking these things up. I could see a mild confusion in Harry's eyes, but he still seemed to understand. Hermione understood the entire thing, or at least, she looked as if she did.

"That's not a rat," Sirius croaked hoarsely. He was tense as he started to reveal Pettigrew. Ron spoke incredulously,

"What d'you mean – of course he's a rat –" I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. Was he really not getting it? I snapped,

"He's as much of a rat as I am a cat!" Lupin nodded his head saying,

"No, he's not. He's a wizard." From what I remembered of Pettigrew reminded me of how talentless he had been and I said,

"Not a very good one. I still can't believe he managed to become an Animagus." Sirius sent me a twisted smile that held no mirth and finished,

"An animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

**Hi! I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to end where J.K. Rowling's chapter does. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. (I'm still waiting for that birthday present, J.K. Rowling!)**

**Please read and review! It'll inspire me to update faster! **

**I expect the next chapter to be up by Friday!**

**-RegulusBlackIsAHero**


	4. Trusting Former Death Eaters

There was a few seconds of tense silence. Hermione's hand flew to her mouth, but then Ron spoke,

"All of you are mental." He looked totally mystified. I chuckled and said with mock hurt,

"Oi! I'll have you know that I'm the sane one here!" Everyone ignored me.

"Peter Pettigrew's _dead_!" Harry repeated, "_He_ killed him twelve years ago!" Sirius snarled madly,

"I meant to, but little Peter got the better of me … not this time, though!" He lunged towards Ron and Peter. Seeing Ron's expression and not wanting him to get hurt, I stepped in front of Sirius. He smacked straight into me, and I thumped heavily against the floor. Wincing, I stood as Lupin reined Sirius in.

"Ouch. I didn't need to do that, you know," I told Ron. He glared up at me and growled,

"Then why did you?" I rolled my eyes and said,

"I imagine that your leg would have felt just peachy if Sirius had fallen on it. Now, excuse me, I need to go control the mutt." Lupin was still struggling to control Sirius. He was yelling,

Sirius, NO! WAIT! You can't just do it like that – they need to understand – you need to explain –"

"We can explain afterwards!" Sirius snarled wildly, trying to break Lupin's grip. I stepped directly in front of him.

"Sirius, if you don't stop struggling, I'm going to put you in a full body bind!" He stopped struggling, thinking I wasn't kidding. Truthfully, I would have, but my wand had been snapped fourteen years ago at the lake. As wandless spells had never been my speciality, I couldn't body bind him (no matter how much I wanted to.)

"They've – got – a – right – to – know – everything!" Lupin panted. You know, most people would think a werewolf was pretty strong in their human forms, too. Lupin could easily prove that wrong. He had been struggling to stop a man that was emaciated, shorter than him, and spent the last decade in prison. Thinking of Lupin's words, I hoped everything didn't include my story. It was not a tale for children. The less people who knew what I went through, the better. I'm not only saying that for me, but the last thing those kids need to hear is a story that still gives _me_ nightmares. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it that even I don't understand! And Harry – you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"

Ahh. Harry. The magic word. Immediately, Sirius stopped looking like he was debating about throwing himself at Pettigrew and stepped back.

"All right, then. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…" Again, how tactless could he get? Seriously. He could be a complete idiot sometimes. The kids looked shocked as he once again mentioned murdering Pettigrew. Ron acted on his shock and said,

"You're nutters, all of you." I grinned as Lupin looked slightly offended for being called crazy by his student.

"What, Lupin? Going to give him detention for that?" I snickered. He glared at me again. However, Sirius chuckled, too, seeing Lupin's expression. Sirius sighed nostalgically and said,

"I remember James saying that only pansies become teachers once, Moony." I saw Harry stiffen at the mention of his father and realized what a bad idea that had been. Almost trembling with fury, Harry said irately,

"You have no right to talk about my dad like you had been friends!" I winced at the words. A year before Sirius had run away, I had said almost the same thing to him,

"_You have no right to talk about Potter like he's your brother." _Sirius didn't seem to notice my reaction as he dropped his eyes in shame. Even after so long, he still blamed himself for the Potters' deaths. He was completely wrong on that note, and he was still too stubborn to forgive himself. The only thing that could fully erase his guilt would be if James Potter himself told Sirius it wasn't his fault. Obviously (and hopefully), Potter wouldn't have a chance to tell him that for a long time. Lupin spoke to Harry in a very calming voice,

"Harry, Sirius was James' friend –" I tried to signal Lupin off of the past tense, but he didn't get what I was trying to say silently. As I watched, Harry's face grew red (and even more Evans-like).

"WAS! AS IN PAST TENSE! HE BETRAYED THEM! HE KILLED THEM!" Hermione immediately followed his outburst by saying,

"Even _if _Pettigrew is alive, Black still murdered all those muggles! He still betrayed Harry's parents!" She seemed to be talking to Lupin, but I answered her anyway.

"He did not. If you let us explain –"

"_Explain? _EXPLAIN! PETTIGREW'S DEAD! THERE IS NOTHING TO EXPLAIN!" Ron yelled back, his ears growing red. I sighed and ran my hand through my too messy hair. According to Narcissa, I never was as vain as Sirius, but I still kept my hair too messy. Calmly, Lupin raised his wand and pointed at the rat while saying,

"You're going to hear us out, Ron. Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen." Ron looked mutinous and screamed back,

"HE'S NOT PETER; HE'S SCABBERS!" Harry immediately backed him up loyally by saying,

"There were witnesses that saw Pettigrew die. A whole street full of them…" I could practically see Sirius' anger rolling off of him in waves. He sincerely was going to try and kill the rat. Not that I blamed him. It was torture to hear how the Aurors, _the Ministry, _had killed my best friend. The only difference was the fact that Leon had a list of things against him. He had the mark, avoided capture, and brought an Auror down before being cornered. That doesn't even begin to mention all of the unforgivable he performed as a Death Eater. The only thing James Potter had against him was being an all-around git. Sirius snarled,

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" I broke into the conversation again by saying,

"There were witnesses to my death. Muggles. Leon and I confunded them. Before having their memories wiped they told the Ministry that they had watched Leon kill me."

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter, " said Lupin, nodding. "I believed it myself-until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry. " I snickered lightly at how awkward those words sounded. No one either noticed or cared about what I was doing; they were all too focused on the rat, Lupin, and Sirius. I saw Harry glance at Ron, and I could see it in their eyes. They thought we were all completely insane.

"We aren't insane, Harry. Well, Lupin and I aren't insane. I never have been too sure about Sirius." Sirius glowered back at me, taking in my teasing tone. I watched as the corner of his mouth lifted, and he said,

"Takes one to know one." I grinned back and replied,

"I have definitely questioned my sanity more than once." The kids were ignoring us. Seemingly, after only just meeting us, they already realized Lupin was the sanest of us all. Sometimes I think madness is a Black family trait. The inbreeding was bound to catch up with us after awhile.

"But Professor Lupin... Scabbers can't be Pettigrew... It just can't be true, you know it can't... " Hermione talked calmly and soothingly. It was like she was trying to talk to a dense child. I chuckled quietly at his expression. Lupin answered, just as calmly,

"Why can't it be true? Regulus has been hiding as an Animagus for the past fourteen years. Why couldn't Peter have been hiding for the past twelve?" Harry looked like he was actually considering this. At least one of the kids were seeing sense. Ron and Hermione were still denying it fiercely. Hermione thought for a moment, then said,

"Because... Because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework-the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things... And I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list." I let out a laugh and said,

"Was I on that list? Was Sirius? Was Leon? Was James Potter?" At the same moment, Lupin laughed and said,

"Right again, Hermione!" he said. "But the Ministry never knew that here used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts. " I cleared my throat loudly and said proudly,

"Actually… The Ministry never knew about five unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts." Sirius looked at me in surprise and asked,

"You and Wilkes? Why?" I grinned and shrugged slightly,

"It's a good skill to have. Plus, there's the fact that where our futures were heading we had to worry about purposeful friendly fire as much as the Ministry." Hesitantly but curious at the same time, Hermione asked,

"Did you really attack each other?" I nodded yes and answered,

"I did not. You have to _hate _so much to cast an unforgivable. I could never do them. As for the others, there was fierce… competition for who would be most loyal – and by extension, most deadly. Leon would have been honored for killing me, as he said that I had betrayed the Death Eaters and tried to run. Had it been my lovely cousin Bellatrix that caught me, I would have been tortured close to insanity before being killed. In the Death Eaters, family and friends mean _nothing_.

In fact, what decided the exact time for my betrayal was when Bellatrix told me to go find Sirius, my brother, and _kill _him. She said that he had betrayed our family, so I should have enough hate to do it. At that time, I think the only person that my killing curse would work on was the Dark Lord himself. As for Sirius, I couldn't do it, nor did I want to. That's also another reason I knew Sirius hadn't been a Death Eater."

"What did you do then?" Lupin asked suspiciously. It seemed that he was still unsure as to where my loyalties lay. I knew that this time, I had to answer.

"I – I stole something of the Dark Lord's. I'm not going to say what or how, but I will say that if he found out what I did, then our entire family would have been killed for my betrayal."

"Why won't you tell us what or how you stole? How do we know that _you _aren't a Death Eater any longer? Maybe this whole thing with Pettigrew is for us to trust you!" I grinned back at her, blocking the painful memories and said,

"Nice to know that you think I'm that important." They didn't say anything, so after a moment, I sighed and continued,

"It's not something children should hear." I looked into the boarded up windows, remembering the burning pain from the potion and my own screams echoing off the rocks.

"Really? Are you seriously trying to tell us that we aren't _old _enough to hear it? I've faced Voldemort three times in the past three years. I think I can handle this!" I shook my head slightly before meeting his eyes and whispering,

"Oh really? What part do you want to hear about? The potion that made me feel as if I was burning from the inside out? The part where I had to use my own blood to be able to go further? How about when the _inferi _dragged me under the water? I meant to die that night. If my house elf hadn't found a loophole in my orders, then I would have."

**Hi! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I got it up earlier than I expected too! Yay for the plot bunny! **

**Thanks to all my reviewers and readers. Please tell me what you think so far! Also give me some ideas on where to go from here!**

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	5. Regulus' Tale

Before any of the kids could do more than stare open-mouthed at me, the door swung open. Stiffening, all of us froze, waiting to see who would enter. No one did.

"No one there…" Lupin muttered quietly.

"This place is haunted!" Ron exclaimed. Lupin quickly answered,

"It's not, but I want to hear Regulus' story before I tell you why." Everyone once again turned to face me. I grimaced slightly and said,

"I'm not gonna get out of this one, am I?" Face expressionless, Hermione shook her head.

"First off, do you kids know what inferi are?" Hermione shook her head yes, but Ron and Harry didn't know.

"An inferi is a dead body enchanted by a dark wizard. They're very dark, very illegal, and very deadly. To understand what I did, you have to know what they are. Now, where to start…" I paused for a few minutes, only continuing when Sirius cleared his throat loudly.

"As a Death Eater, I saw the Dark Lord pretty often. I was in his inner circle, and as a member of the House of Black, along with being related to Bellatrix, he trusted me a lot. Leon was as high as I was, but Severus was lower in his ranks because he was a halfblood. Each time I saw him, he alluded to things like being immortal or splitting into seven. Naturally, most of the Death Eaters, Leon and Severus included, were too in love with the Dark Lord to see these, but I noticed. I begin to make note of what he said, and I researched ways of becoming immortal. And… I found one…" I broke off, shuddering at the reminder of those days. I had been terrified that one of the Death Eaters would discover how I was sticking my nose into business I should have steered clear from. Sirius looked shocked and demanded,

"Voldemort's immortal? I thought he was dead!" I shook my head and said,

"No, Sirius. You _hoped _he was dead. He ran from the Potter's house horribly weakened but not dead." Lupin prompted me as I once again lapsed into silence.

"What did you do when you found out?" I chuckled harshly and continued,

"At that point, I was already starting to become disenchanted with the Dark Lord. Did you know that he's halfblood? According to his own standards, _he _should be killed. So, I began to listen more closely to everything he said, trying to figure out where one was. Bellatrix told me that she could see how _committed_ I was by how well I payed attention to him. She couldn't have been more wrong. Then, with a stroke of luck, if you can call it that, the Dark Lord told me he required the Black family house elf. He told me that he needed to _hide _something. I knew what that something was at once." The kids seemed shocked beyond words as I spoke of my life as a Death Eater. I continued on without prompting. The words were coming out easier then I imagined, but I knew it would get more difficult.

"I told my house elf to go with the Dark Lord and come directly back. I was terrified the Dark Lord would kill him, you see. However, the Dark Lord underestimated him. After he hid the part of his soul, which is called a horcrux by the way, he left Kreacher there to die. As his magic is different from a human's he was able to apparate back to me and tell me everything. I was terrified as I learned this. From what he said, I believed I'd lose my life there. I bought myself some time by looking for ways around the wards the Dark Lord placed. When Bellatrix ordered me to go kill Sirius, I knew the time had finally come. So, I had Kreacher take me to the cave where the Dark Lord had hidden the horcrux…" I trailed off, shuddering wildly. Sirius placed his hand on my shoulder. I shook him off, wanting no pity. Instead, I raised my head to meet Lupin in the eyes. Then, chin held high, I continued, fighting my mounting panic,

"Kreacher and I entered the cave. He was trembling and shaking, and I knew the horrors in there would severely test my will and bravery. I had never been a Gryffindor. In my own way, stealing the horcrux was a way to redeem myself, a way to say, 'Hey! I wasn't all bad!' When I entered the cave, I was forced to give it a blood sacrifice. It opened the cave doors and revealed a lake. Lying in the murky water were inferi. They were countless. The number of people who died just to protect that horcrux was insane. Women, children, men… The worst part was that I _knew _that if I died there, I would become one too. It was a cruel irony. Die to steal the horcrux and have my dead body protect it." Hermione shivered at my words. Strangely, at this point, I was only feeling a detached horror, as if my mind wouldn't allow myself to relive it fully. Ron asked me,

"What did you do then?" I noticed that all five of my audience was captivated by my story.

"I crossed the lake in a boat and stopped at an island. Careful not to touch the water, I exited the boat and watched as it floated away. I knew then what I should have realized the day I learned of the horcruxes.

There was no going back.

On the island, the only thing that stood there was a basin. As I went closer, I saw the basin was full of potion, and a locket was lying inside. Knowing that I had to drink this potion, I conjured up a copy locket and wrote a note inside.

'To the Dark Lord: I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. RAB'

Then I drank the potion. Kreacher, on my orders, had to force it down my throat. It was like a Dementor. I relived my worst memories because of it. I – I saw… never mind… It also burned like – like you couldn't believe. After it was empty, Kreacher took the locket out and replaced it with the replica. As he did this, I was mad with thirst and crawled over to the edge of the lake. I drank some of water and was immediately grabbed by more than one inferi. They – they…" I broke off, for the first time unable to continue. It was getting harder to talk about what had happened, but I couldn't stop there. Trying to detach myself from my emotions, something I had done countless times in Slytherin house, I took a deep breath.

As I paused, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Expecting Sirius, I went to shrug it off, only to see that when I looked, Sirius wasn't there. In fact, no one at all was there. As I tilted my head slightly to the side in confusion, I noticed Harry's eyes widen. He seemed to understand that someone was there. Then the mysterious presence lifted a cloak off of their head, revealing none other than my old friend, Severus.

He looked almost choked as he said,

"Regulus? But… how?" Grinning, as I saw the kids' shocked looks at the emotion in his voice, I transformed into Crookshanks. As soon as Sev saw my cat form, he did something surprising. He let out a laugh. Worried for my normally emotionless friend's sanity, I changed back. Severus was still chuckling as he said,

"I can't…. believe…. your fur… is orange!" I frowned back at him, suddenly annoyed and said,

"I know! Why in Merlin's name did I get orange fur!" Getting over his shock at seeing Severus, Sirius huffed,

"Oi! What do you have against the color orange?" As a kid, orange had been Sirius' favorite color. Even that had annoyed my parents. According to them, 'such a bright color is unethical for a member of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black'. My favorite color had been green. I raised an eyebrow at him and said,

"I seem to remember _someone _trying to charm my hair to red and yellow when they messed up and my hair became orange for the entire _year_." Lupin told me apologetically,

"Regulus, we need to hear the rest of the story." Immediately, my smile faltered. Severus' hand was still firmly on my shoulder, comforting me as a brother should. Sirius had noticed that as well and looked slightly awkward. I closed my eyes tightly for a moment, trying to shake the horrible images out of my mind. It didn't work. Trying to get myself to finish as quickly as I could, I started again,

"The inferi dragged me into the water. I lost my wand. As I fell in, I ordered Kreacher to leave without me and to never tell anyone of what had happened. I gave him the order to destroy the horcrux. He found a loophole in my orders. Instead of just leaving me, he apparated to Leon's house. Without saying a word, he took Leon to me, and Leon saved my life. I was unconscious at the time. When I woke up, Leon had brought Sev and together, they had healed me the best they could. Severus then took the time to prepare a potion called the Draught of Living Death. We faked a fight in front of some muggles, confunded them into thinking they saw a green light hit me, and I took the draught, leaving a very convincing corpse. After I was proclaimed dead, Severus gave me the antidote, and we all promised to never speak of what had happened that day to anyone. Sev and Leon went back to the Dark Lord, and I transformed into my Animagus form, something Leon and I had never told Severus about, without any intent to become human again. When Sirius escaped, I knew I had to try and help him. I knew he'd try to find Harry, so I went to the store and confunded the lady into thinking she'd had me for years. Then you bought me, Hermione." I looked at the faces around me, each one save Severus' revealing shock, horror, and a slight bit of admiration. Severus' look was pitying. He had already known my story, and he could easily recognize what it had cost me to reveal the tale. I was truthfully just happy that it was over. Clearing my throat one more time, I looked at Lupin and said,

"That's my story. Let's hear yours, now."

**Yes! Two chapters in one day! It's a miracle!**

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	6. Revealing of the Rat

"I'm not going to listen to this," Severus sneered. I frowned at him and faked incompetence,

"Why ever not?" Severus glared at me, and I knew he could see right through my tone of voice.

"Black is –" I let out a loud cough at the sound of my surname. Severus ignored the cough, but when he spoke again, he altered his sentence to,

"_He's _a murderer. Lupin's a werewolf, and you're a former Death Eater." I chuckled at his reasoning. He knew perfectly well how much of a Death Eater I _wasn't._ When he, Leon, and I had faked my death, they had forced me to tell them the full story. Without a choice, I had told them everything. Not to my surprise, it didn't cause either of them to turn their backs on the Dark Lord, but it had helped them to conclude that it was better for everyone if I was believed dead.

"You're a former Death Eater, too, Severus. Plus, you were in there longer than I was." I saw Hermione draw in a sharp breath. Oops. Looks like they hadn't known that their hated professor was an old Death Eater.

"Just because we used to be friends –"

"You actually considered Leon and I friends! I feel so loved!" I snickered as Sev's expression showed horror. He had hated friendship after Evans had stopped talking to him. It was a rare thing to make Severus bloody Snape slip up, but I was just so annoying that I could cause him to do it.

"_Shut up, Black!" _Ahh. And there it is. The retorts that aren't nearly close to usual standard. He used them when he got angry at himself for slipping. Not literally slipping, though. Once I and Leon had had a bet that he would react the same way if one of us pushed him. I won. When I pushed him he reacted totally different. Getting three galleons was _almost _worth waking up in the hospital wing two hours later.

"You know that temper of yours really gets the better of you still." Severus knew I was joking around, but he still retorted angrily, as he had always done,

"If you don't shut up then you'll find out what my temper's like." I winced at the retort.

"Wow, Sevvie. Your retorts have gotten so much worse. And do you seriously think that I don't know your temper? I'm the one who was sent to calm you down after Potter and Sirius messed with you." Severus glowered at me before saying back,

"You didn't have to. I was in _complete_ control." I grinned as a new memory jumped in my head, and I said,

"Oh really? What happened the time I was in the hospital wing after a Quidditch match? I seem to remember the Common Room getting completely new furniture." Sirius snickered quietly, but, luckily, Sev didn't hear. Instead, he seemed to be reliving our time at Hogwarts. One corner of his mouth lifted up slightly, the Severus version of rolling on the floor. Then he did something slightly uncharacteristic and asked with a slight smirk,

"Remember the _rainbows._" Both of us let out an actual laugh at that one. Well, I let out a laugh. Severus let out a chuckle which was equivalent to dying of laughter for him. It was sort of scary; how easy it was for us to reacquaint ourselves. Severus, Leon, and I had once snuck into Bellatrix's dorm and turned her hair rainbow colors. Later, we did the same thing to Lucius Malfoy. At first, it had seemed pretty weak as a prank, but then in the Great Hall, the paint had burst into off tune songs about the person it was on. Bella had been furious when it called her insane, and Malfoy had been called narcissist. The Marauders had taken credit for it and had gotten detention for it. We didn't complain. Bella and Lucius were bad enemies to make.

"So you'll listen?" I asked him. He rolled his eyes and said,

"Yes. But don't expect –"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Snapey." Lupin, shaking his head at us, probably thinking that I was the only person who could talk to Sev like that. Well, the only person still alive. Severus would have done anything for Lily.

"Don't you dare call me that again or –"

"Yeah, yeah, I know… The usual. Curses, disembowelment…"

"Why did you bring us under here?" Hermione demanded shrilly. Lupin looked at her carefully and said,

"To show you the truth. Something that should have happened a long time ago."

"So what is this hidden truth," Severus sneered. Sirius glared at him angrily, and said,

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Congratulations. You actually know the name of someone you murdered," Sev said dryly.

"He's alive," I said shortly.

"How?" Severus said, eyes narrowing.

"Pettigrew's dead!" Ron yelled, seemingly unable to stay silent.

"Pettigrew's as dead as I am. Meaning, to the entire world, except a select few in this room, he's dead," I said. "I escaped death by faking my own. Pettigrew did the same."

"Because _he _was going to kill him!" Harry shouted, waving a hand angrily in Sirius' direction.

"Yes, because Sirius tracked him down. He tracked him down after Peter betrayed your parents," Lupin said quickly.

"HE WAS THERE SECRET KEEPER! HE BETRAYED THEM!"

"No! Harry! You have to listen to the full story…" Sirius said. Lupin began before anyone else could say anything.

"The Shrieking Shack was never haunted... The screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me. " I watched as Lupin brushed his hair out of his face, an action I had seen mirrored many times by my brother and James Potter.

"That's where all of this starts-with my becoming a werewolf, none of this could have happened if I hadn't been bitter... And if I hadn't been so foolhardy... " For the first time that night, I noticed how tired Lupin looked, as if the years had given him a much harder time than they should have. Of course, being alone in never a good thing… Ron started to interrupt, but Hermione, said,

"Shh!"

"I as a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week, preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform... I'm able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again. Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me. But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school... " Lupin sighed and looked directly at Harry.

"I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house"-Lupin glared at the surrounding walls, -"the tunnel that leads to it-they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous. " The kids didn't understand why this story was being told, but they were listening all the same.

"My transformations in those days were-were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor... Even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it... ""But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends.

Sirius Black... Peter Pettigrew... And, of course, your father, Harry-James Potter. " "Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up allsorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her... I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth... ""And they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi. "

"My dad too?" said Harry, flabbergasted

"Yes, indeed, " said Lupin. "It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong-one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will. "

"But how did that help you?" said Hermione, perplexed.

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals, " said Lupin. "A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed... Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them. "

"Hurry up, Remus, " snarled Sirius. Harry glanced at him, still wary. I sighed, wishing for this to be over already.

"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there... Well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did... And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs. "

"What sort of animal -?" Harry began, but Hermione cut him off.

"That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me, " said Lupin heavily. "And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless-carried away with our own cleverness. "I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course... He had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed... "Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice.

"All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... And Dumbledore's trust has meant everything tome. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it... So, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along. " Sev snorted angrily.

"Why does Snape even matter…" Sirius muttered, just loud enough to hear. Severus snarled in return,

"I don't have to listen to this."

"But you're going to," I interjected firmly. Sev knew what I was implying. He had told me he would, so he'd stay until it was over. Severus just wouldn't be happy about it.

"Then it's time we offered you some proof, " said Lupin. "You, boy-give me Peter, please. Now. " Ron was still being a dunderhead and refused to listen.

"Come off it, " he said faintly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on Scabbers? I mean... " He looked up,

"Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat-there are millions of rats-how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question, " said Lupin, turning to Sirius. I didn't know the answer to that either. "How did you find out where he was?" Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out s picture from a newspaper.

"_Of course!" I exclaimed, "_Pettigrew's in the picture! But how'd you get it?"

"Fudge, " said Sirius. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page on this boy's shoulder... I knew him at once... How many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts... To where Harry was...

"My God, " said Lupin softly, moving his eyes from Ron's rat to the picture as if he couldn't believe it. "His front paw... "

"What about it?" said Ron boldly.

"He's got a toe missing, " said Sirius sharply.

"Of course, " Lupin whispered. "So simple... So brilliant... He cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed, " said Sirius. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself-and sped down into the sewer with the other rats... "

"I don't believe you…" Ron said.

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" said Lupin. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger. " Severus was quiet. He was truly thinking about it. Even he had to admit that Sirius had never acted like someone who would do something like murdering James Potter. I was also quiet, seeing as Lupin had the spotlight, and even I knew that this wasn't the time for jokes.

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages, right -"

"Twelve years, in fact, " said Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

"We-we've been taking good care of him!" said Ron.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" said Lupin. "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again... "

"He's been scared of that mad cat!"

"Oi!" I said mock angrily.

"You are mad," Sirius agreed. I rolled my eyes,

"Coming from the Azkaban escapee." Sirius was the one to roll his eyes at that statement. Lupin broke in before Sirius could retort,

"Honestly… how old are you? Can't you see? Everyone's had it backwards! Peter betrayed your parents… Sirius tracked Peter down…"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Harry yelled. "HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE SAID SO BEFORE YOU TURNED UP. HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!" Harry pointed at Sirius, who shook his head slowly, clearly shaking himself from bad memories. I hissed quietly. Still, after so long, Sirius still believed that he was guilty for the Potters' deaths.

"Harry... I as good as killed them, " he said heavily. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it... The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies... I realized what Peter must've done... What I'd done... "His voice broke. He turned away.

"Enough of this, " said Lupin. He had a dark note in his voice that I was only familiar with because I had overheard Lupin yelling at Sirius for the willow incident. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat. "

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked Lupin edgily.

"Force him to show himself, " said Lupin. "If he really is a rat, it won't hurt him. " Ron hesitated, and I rolled my eyes. After all of that, did he really still question it? Then Ron gave him Pettigrew.

"Ready, Sirius?" said Lupin. Hermione, who had seen the sense of our explanation, handed Sirius her wand. Harry and Ron gaped at her in surprise. She said calmly,

"I trust him."

"Together?" Sirius said quietly to Lupin.

"I think so, said Lupin, holding Pettigrew and his wand. "On the count of three. One-two-THREE!"

There was a bright blue flash of light that was very familiar. I had seen it many times while practicing my own transformation. Then, a pudgy, grubby man stood there, his eyes flashing around us all as he spoke,

"S-Sirius… R-Remus… My friends… My old friends…"

I glanced at the kids and saw something in there eyes. They, all three of them, knew it was true. Peter Pettigrew was alive, and he was standing right before them.

**Hiya! Hope you like the chapter. It's the longest one yet! **

**Please leave a review! I love any criticism!**

**For the next chapter: Expect a rather smart story from Pettigrew as to why he was in hiding and by Harry. Which person will the trio believe…**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I have the strangest feeling that I'll never get my birthday present… Who knows why? ;)**

**I read a fanfic where someone did this, and it seemed really cool, so I'm gonna give it a shot.**

**Dndchk: ** Thanks! I hope you like your hug from Remus! ;) Also, thanks for the continued support of all my fanfics. Regulus' story will come out more in later chapters.

**Marylopez0812: ** Um… Can't more? But I'm updating, and it hasn't been too long…

**Bookwormlovesharrypotter: **I love your username! Thanks for the support.

**Crazy Redd: **Thanks for the ideas. I love hearing them, so include as many as you can think of! The more the merrier! Also, I'm thinking of using your idea on the returning to Hogwarts. Sirius really wanted to keep an eye on them in fourth year...

**Gin'iro no Neko 8: **It just took me four tries to get your username right. Anyway, thanks! (I can feel my already too big ego growing!)

**Swimdiva87: **Thanks for the criticism! Please tell me how this is on the cheesiness scale.(I can't believe that Word just told me cheesiness was a real word)

**Jannafrancine: **Thanks. However, I can tell you that Peter will not be receiving the Dementor's kiss. I shudder even thinking about how hard it would be to write about…


	7. Pettigrew's Claim

Pettigrew looked around in fear. His watery eyes met mine, and I saw intense fear, hatred, and another unreadable emotion. Something was occurring to the filthy rat. That something… included me. My mind flickered to what Pettigrew had said before,

"_If I go to Azkaban, then you will too. I doubt you've forgotten, but you used to be a Death Eater,_ _Regulus."_

Had the dense fool thought of a plan that could make Lupin doubt Sirius? If he could… but, no. Lupin was smarter than that; he had always been the smartest (by far) in their merry band of misfits. Besides, Pettigrew had always been the dumbest (followed closely by Sirius) in the group. There was no way that the rat could come up with a story. He'd just plead for forgiveness; something I had seen many cowardly Death Eaters do. Pettigrew was no different. If anything, he didn't have the pride most others (Death Eaters or not) had. He'd cry and beg, shaming his own name. A poor excuse for someone the Ministry had wrongly given the Order of Merlin to.

I watched as Sirius raised his wand, and I stepped closer to him. He couldn't kill Pettigrew. If Pettigrew was dead, then he couldn't be proved innocent. A part of me wanted to help kill Pettigrew, but it was suppressed by both my hatred of killing and the need for Sirius to be free. Lupin stopped him before I had to. Then Lupin, still pressing Sirius' arm down, turned back to Pettigrew and with a casual voice said,

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died. You might have missed the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the bed -" Pettigrew paled drastically. I glanced at Severus, whom looked furious. He had every reason to. Standing in front of him was the person who killed the woman he was in love with.

"Remus," Pettigrew said, seemingly breathless with fear. I saw sweat breaking onto his face, but still, his eyes continued to flicker towards me. "You don't believe him, do you...? He tried to kill me, Remus... "Pettigrew trailed off, fidgeting slightly. I rolled my eyes; _could you be anymore obviously guilty?_

"Like we haven't heard that lie, Pettigrew!" I snarled, "Now, you have to tell us the real story." Pettigrew turned to face me with a fire that hadn't been in his eyes before.

"I refuse to listen to you, _Death Eater!_" I laughed loudly when he said that.

"Isn't that a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, Pettigrew? I could say the same thing to you." Normally, Sirius would have immediately responded to that statement, claiming that I am a Black, but it seemed that he was too stressed and angry at the moment. Pettigrew turned back to Lupin, knowing that I would have the upper hand in that argument.

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew said shrilly. I concealed the urge to cover my ears at the noise. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too... You've got to help me, Remus... "Sirius snapped loathingly,

"How dare you say their names, Peter!" He looked at Pettigrew with immeasurable hatred. Pettigrew immediately retorted with,

"I have no reason not to say their names! I didn't _kill _them! Remus, you have to help me; he's come to kill me, Remus…" Sirius' wand rose once more and I set myself in between the two of them.

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out," Lupin said coldly; his voice still infuriatingly calm. How in Merlin's name could he do that? It doesn't even directly affect me, and I sound more upset than him over it!

"You can't kill him," I barked quickly.

"Coming from the old Death Eater," Sirius muttered. I immediately said,

"_Shut up, Sirius!" _Worriedly, I brushed a hand through my hair. "If you kill him, Sirius, you won't be freed!"

"I can give them his dead body," Sirius snarled. Pettigrew squeaked in fear. Everyone else ignored him; though, I could feel Sev's scorching gaze fixed unwaveringly on him. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't be a dunderhead, Sirius!" I exclaimed, "You won't be given a chance to explain! All they'll see is the _mass-murder _and another corpse!" Surprisingly, Severus spoke up,

"He's right, Black. The Minister will be too _happy_ over you being caught to even listen to an explanation."

"That's because he doesn't deserve one!" Pettigrew said loudly. "He – he betrayed them… He tried to kill me…" Pettigrew's pathetic voice grew weaker as he saw Lupin's glare focused on him.

"Got the Marauders trained, Lupin? They fear your glares," I said with a laugh. Lupin sent _me _a glare as if to say 'you should too.' Of course, it was lost on me. I survived Mother's glares and glowers for years; I think I can survive Lupin's too. Pointedly ignoring my comment (something that had no doubt happened to Sirius before), Lupin turned back to Pettigrew.

"We have to sort out a few things, Peter. Maybe you can help."

"Sort a few things out…" Pettigrew said dumbly, as if he truly couldn't believe that Remus judged Sirius as being innocent. "You can't believe this madness, Remus! He tried to kill me! He's going to try again! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!" I let out a burst of bitter laughter at Pettigrew's last words.

"Glad to see you knew Sirius enough to understand that he'd never stay locked up as an innocent man." Lupin raised an eyebrow and mocked confusion as he said,

"You knew Sirius was going to escape Azkaban? When no one had ever done it before?" Pettigrew's eyes widened as he saw his mistake. Still, though, he tried to push it through.

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of! How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks! Look – he's already allied himself with another Death Eater!" Together, both Sirius and I laughed coldly. I spoke first,

"I've said it more than once, Pettigrew. I always knew you were dumb, but this is taking it too far. _I am no Death Eater!" _ Then Sirius said,

"Voldemort, teach me tricks?" Pettigrew flinched backwards, terrible, un-Gryffindor-like terror in his eyes. I didn't flinch; a long time ago the name would've scared me but now… Sirius laughed cruelly and said, "What, scared to hear your old master's name? I don't blame you, Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?" I noticed Pettigrew's sweaty face, and the way his too-bright eyes flashed with panic. Still, he was able to come up with an okay reason.

"Of course they aren't! I was in the Order! I put their _spy _into Azkaban! I came to Hogwarts because I recognized that mad cat as a Death Eater!"

"And that cat recognized a traitor and a rat," I snarled. I couldn't believe it; Pettigrew was blaming _me_. He was using me as an excuse. I saw Harry and Ron glance at each other. They weren't completely sure as to where my loyalties lie. I winced at the idea of me ever being loyal to the Death Eaters. It was unthinkable, _unimaginable._ I had been ready to die just to escape them. Pettigrew pounced on his earlier idea and said,

"I was too nervous of the Death Eaters that evaded Azkaban to return alive again; so, instead, I decided to come to Hogwarts and protect Harry. Remember? I bit Goyle once! Good thing I came, too… There was a Death Eater in Gryffindor Tower this year! I was sure he was hiding his wand somewhere…" His voice was steady (surprisingly), but his eyes flickered to the doors and windows, looking for escape routes. I broke in, rolling my eyes,

"Idiot! I don't have a wand! It broke!"

"I'm sure you had one hidden somewhere… Imagine if I hadn't been there to protect Harry… You would have killed him…" Pettigrew's voice was growing stronger. He could see the doubt on Harry and Ron's faces. They weren't sure who to believe.

"Really, Pettigrew?" Hermione said coldly. She seemed to believe us completely. "Ron had you since first year, and Percy had you before that. I got Crookshanks this year."

"But – but… I knew I'd meet Harry eventually, if I went to Hogwarts!" Pettigrew crowed triumphantly. Anger evident on his normally poised face, Lupin stepped forward and ripped Pettigrew's left sleeve up. It bore a scar that looked almost exactly like mine. The only difference was that mine was slightly more faded; that only meant I had gotten mine earlier than he did. Sirius grasped his wrist before Pettigrew could pull it away. Then he turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"This is – was - the Dark Mark. Voldemort gives it to those most loyal to him. Show them, Reggie!" It was a command, but I only rolled my eyes before listening. As much as I hated being pushed around after being a Death Eater, it still made sense. I held my left arm out, and all three teens saw the mark upon my own. Next, Sirius, after releasing Pettigrew's wrist and making a show of wiping his hand off on his robes, raised his own arm. There was only pale skin.

"This proves it. I was never a Death Eater, but_ Peter_ was," Sirius growled, sounding rather-like a dog.

"I – I –" All of the kids were glaring at Pettigrew coldly as he tried to blubber out a comprehensible answer. Then Pettigrew's eyes flashed triumphantly, and he said,

"But – but you escaped! Azkaban! How could he have done that without d – dark magic?"

"Er – Mr. Black… Sirius…" Hermione said. Sirius jumped in surprise. I winced with sympathy. Even so long after the death of Orion Black, our father, Mr. Black still seemed to refer only to him. Add in the fact that Sirius had hated him… "How could you have escaped without Dark magic?" She did have a point. Even I couldn't see how Sirius had done it. However, I did know that being innocent puts a person into an entirely different mindset than being guilty does. For sure, this had something to do with it. After contemplating what he'd say for a moment, Sirius spoke softly, saying,

"I don't know how I did it. I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me... But it kept me sane and knowing who I am... Helped me keep my powers... So when it all became ... Too much... I could transform in my cell... Become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know... They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions... They could tell that my feelings were less—less human, less complex when I was a dog... But they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand... " I glanced at Sev, wondering what he thought of that. Reading his face as only a close friend could, I saw that, though he hated it, he did know that Sirius was truly innocent. Also, he kept glancing at Pettigrew, sorrow and angry in his dark irises. He was mourning Lily.

"But then I saw Peter in that picture... I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry... Perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again..."

Pettigrew was shaking his head, mouthing noiselessly, but staring all the while at Black as though hypnotized. "... Ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies... And to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors..." I hissed with anger at the thought of yet another betrayal by Peter Pettigrew. At least the kids were starting to believe Sirius. That was what was important.

"So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive... "

"It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and the dementors couldn't destroy it... It wasn't a happy feeling... It was an obsession... But it gave me strength, it cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog... It's so much harder for them to sense animal emotions that they were confused... I was thin, very thin... Thin enough to slip through the bars... I swam as a dog back to the mainland... I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch the Quidditch, of course. You fly as well as your father did, Harry... " Sev snorted as I nodded my head.

"You do," I said to Harry, "your father was a chaser, and even I must admit that he flew well." Sirius snorted in disbelief.

"Well? He was bloody amazing!" I grinned back and retorted,

"Oh really? If he was so fan-bloody-tastic then why did my team win the Quidditch Cup in your seventh year?"

"We do not speak of that!" Sirius snapped. I snorted, and Severus shook his head at our infatuation with Quidditch. Sirius then turned back to the three kids.

"Believe me, " he said miserably. "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them. " I noticed that he still refused to even look at Severus, and I shook my head at his immaturity. Looking positive, I saw Hermione nod once from slightly behind Harry. Then Harry nodded once, slowly. Sirius grinned happily, for the first time that night.

"No! Sirius-it's me... It's Peter... Your friend... You wouldn't -" I watched, Pettigrew seemed to collapse in front of Sirius. His hands were knit tightly together in front of him. I growled angrily. _Pathetic Bastard! _

"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them, " Sirius snarled.

"Remus!"Pettigrew saw a lost caused and spun around to face Lupin. "You don't believe this wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter, " said Lupin, as freakily calm as ever. "I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?"

"Forgive me, Remus, " said Sirius sadly, his eyes reflecting how much he regretted that.

"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend, " There was a flash of hurt in Lupin's eyes that I only saw because I was so good at reading emotions in Sev's eyes. It disappeared quickly. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course, " said Sirius with a feral grin. "Shall we kill him together?" I growled and exclaimed,

"Sirius! Don't kill him! You need him alive if you want to be free!" Sirius acted as if he hadn't even heard me. Lupin acted the same way.

"Yes, I think so, " said Lupin gloomily.

"You wouldn't... You won't... , " I shrugged angrily and said,

"They would. And they will. I can't seem to stop them."

Pettigrew spun around to face Ron. "Ron... Haven't I been a good friend... A good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you... You're on my side, aren't you. " Ron's eyes were wide with horror and loathing. He wouldn't get any sympathy there.

"I let you sleep in my bed!" he said. I coughed awkwardly, refusing to glance at Hermione for even a second.

"Kind boy... Kind master... "Pettigrew, not smart enough to see a lost cause, crawled even further towards Ron. "You won't let them do it... I was your rat... I was a good pet... "

"If you made a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter, " Sirius spat. Pettigrew, finally realizing that Ron would be no help as he wrenched his broken leg away from Pettigrew, turned to Hermione.

"Sweet girl... Clever girl... You-you won't let them... Help me... "Hermione looked at him with horror and whispered,

"_I held a murderer…"_

"You've also held a Death Eater, and it wasn't me. See?... I stayed as a rat for… safety…"

"Drop it, Pettigrew!" I said harshly. "You knew I'd immediately take you to Dumbledore if I caught you. That's why you faked your death _again._" He looked at me for another moment before turning to Harry, pupils dilated with terror.

"Harry... Harry... You look just like your father... Just like him... "

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HARRY?" roared Sirius. "HOW DARE YOU FACE HIM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT OF HIM?"

"Harry, " Pettigrew ignored him, only infuriating him even further. "Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed... James would have understood, Harry... He would have shown me mercy... " I barked out a laugh that was harsh and cold.

"James Potter? Understand betrayal? He trusted you with _everything._ And you betrayed him. Both Lupin and Sirius forcibly threw Pettigrew back to the middle of the floor.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort, " Sirius said, visibly shaken by the words. I winced in sympathy for my brother. Even after so long, their deaths still affected him as much as Leon's affected me Only, I hadn't relived his death over and over again in these past years. "Do you deny it?" Pettigrew burst into tears. I rolled my eyes at him once more.

"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord... You have no idea... He has weapons you can't imagine... I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me -"

"DON'T LIE!" bellowed Sirius. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

"He-he was taking over everywhere!" gasped Pettigrew. "Wh-what was there to be gained by refusing him?"

"What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" Sirius sneered. I shook my head. Pettigrew wasn't doing a good job of quenching Sirius' temper. Then again, at this point, I doubted I could, either. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" moaned Pettigrew. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius barked loudly. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WEWOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" Sirius and Lupin both raised their wands. I stepped in front of them.

"You can't kill him! Lupin! You're the smart one here! " Lupin barely even glanced at me and said,

"This is none of your concern, Regulus." I growled fiercely and said,

"This is my concern if I'm trying to keep my brother and his best mate out of Azkaban!"

"See?... Remus… Regulus would forgive me…" I twisted my face into a mocking smile.

"I didn't say that, Pettigrew. I think a lifetime in Azkaban would be a better decision than killing you now."

"Step aside, Reggie!" Sirius ordered. With an anguished glance at Harry, the only one that could stop them, I stepped out from in between them, admitting defeat.

"You should have realized, " said Lupin quietly, "if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter. "

"NO!" Harry stepped forward, in between the wands and Pettigrew. "You can't kill him, you can't. " Sirius and Lupin both looked astounded. I nodded my thanks at him.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents, " Sirius snarled. "This cringing bit of filth would have seen you die too, without turning a hair. You heard him. His own stinking skin meant more to him than your whole family. "

"I know, " Harry gasped. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors... He can go to Azkaban... But don't kill him. "

"Harry!" Pettigrew panted, not happily but close. "You-thank you-it's more than I deserve-thank you -"

"Get off me, " Harry frowned at him with disgust. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because-I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers-just for you. "I watched as both Sirius and Lupin glanced at each other, communicating silently. They looked as if they were debating what to do, but I could see it in both their eyes; they weren't going to do it.

"You're the only person who has the right to decide, Harry, " said Sirius. "But think... Think what he did... " I snorted, of course he would try to convince Harry to let him kill the rat. I could feel Sev tense beside me. He hadn't been about to stop them, but I knew that he would definitely not keep the murder a secret if it even happened.

"He can go to Azkaban, " Harry repeated. "If anyone deserves that place, he does... " Pettigrew was still on the floor moaning pathetically.

"Very well, " said Lupin. "Stand aside, Harry. "I saw Harry hesitate, unnecessary... "I'm going to tie him up, " said Lupin. "That's all, I swear. " Harry nodded once and stepped away, watching silently as cords bounded Pettigrew's wrists and ankles.

"But if you transform, Peter, " growled Sirius, his own wand pointing at Pettigrew too, "we will kill you. You agree, Harry?" Harry nodded, deliberately making it so that Pettigrew could see him.

"Right, " said Lupin, suddenly businesslike. "Ron, I can't mend bones nearly as well as Madam Pomfrey, so I think it's best if we just strap your leg up until we can get you to the hospital wing. " He walked over to Ron with every intention of binding the leg when I stepped over.

"Let me have a look at it. I now a couple healing charms. If it's a clean break…" I looked at Ron's broken leg carefully before shaking my head to the side. "I can't heal it. It's too jagged. I'm not going to pull a Lockhart." Ron, Harry, and Hermione stared at me a moment, clearly wondering how I knew about that. "Hermione, you told me the stories from your first two years when Ron wasn't talking to you, remember?" Hermione blushed brightly and said,

"Oh… right…" Lupin stepped over once more and said to Ron,

"Ferula." The break was in a splint. Ron groaned before a ghost of a smile returned to his face.

"That's better, " he said. "Thanks. " Ron stood, and I let him lean slightly on me, but of course, his Gryffindor pride refused to allow me, so he stepped away. I rolled my eyes as he gingerly pressed his foot to the wooden floor. Then I turned to Sirius.

"Good luck." Sirius looked staggered as he said,

"What do you mean?" I sighed and turned and addressed everyone, minus Pettigrew, who was still sobbing on the floor.

"I was a Death Eater, and I betrayed them. Even with the slim chance that the Ministry won't stick me in Azkaban; the old Death Eaters will murder me. Besides, I never intended to reveal myself. The only reason I did was because I wanted to make sure that if Pettigrew had enough brain cells to make up a good story, then you wouldn't believe him. I didn't intend on my brother getting the kiss tonight because of that sniveling rat." Sirius' shocked expression turned to anger.

"So you're just going to run away?" he demanded heatedly. I sent him a twisted smile and said,

"I never was a Gryffindor." Sev spoke up, his eyes narrowed,

"Reg – you can't just disappear again…" I growled,

"Watch me." Severus spoke angrily, matching my tone,

"You say you aren't a Gryffindor! You're just as stubborn as one. Dumbledore _needs _to know about the Horcruxes! You do want to stop the Dark Lord, _right?_"

"Of course I do!" I spat. "Fine. I'll tell Dumbledore, but after that… You can't keep me here." One side of Sev's mouth twitched slightly as he spoke,

"I won't need to."

**Hi everyone! Hope you enjoyed this!**

**Please read and review! Criticism is always welcome! You can get a hug from Sirius this time!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. However, I have less than half a year until my birthday… C'mon… you know what to get me…**

**Please tell me what your favorite parts are, and what your least favorite parts are!**

**In the future: Expect Peter to be cornered close to the Black Lake. He'll be right on the edge of a large drop into the water…**

_**onceuponatime99: **_**I'm glad you think so. I'm going to have more of Severus in the future.**

_**Swimdiva87: **_**For the ADD, I can just imagine Reggie saying, **_**'It's not ADD, it's a side-effect from growing up with Sirius!**_**' However, Regulus was only eighteen when he transformed into his Animagus. He stayed that way for fourteen years. I am trying to make sure he doesn't act like his true age because the last time he was human, he was still pretty young. Also, he was just reunited with his brother and Severus, both of whom he never believed he's see again. Also, right before he faked his death, he had little to be happy about. Now, he has been reunited with his friend and brother and something finally looks like it'll turn out all right. Thanks for the cheesiness scale rating, too.**

_**I.C.2014: **_**Hermione does come across as a little annoying. I'm finding it rather hard to write her dialogue. She is by far the hardest character for me. **

_**marylopex0812: **_**Thanks!**

_**Dndchk: **_**Thanks! It's getting there. The next chapter is going to be Regulus chasing Peter with a big cliffhanger ending. **

_**Bookwormlovesharrypotter: **_**Thanks! This story will either go to fifth year or to the final battle. There may be an epilogue, too. I'm not positive yet.**

_**Smithback: **_**Thank you!**

_**WerewolvesAndCo: **_**I'm glad you like it.**

_**meadow-music: **_**Here's another chapter, and it's the longest yet! Don't worry, there'll be a lot of brother bonding in future chapters.**

_**Brian Justin Gus Kinney: **_**Regulus is a seriously understated character! He needs more stories about him! He's a big character in almost all of my fanfics!**


	8. The BLack Lake

I stared at Severus, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Let's go," I growled. Severus didn't move his line of sight from mine, his expression stolid, a harsh contrast to my own. I shook my head slightly. After living with suppressed emotions for fourteen years, as a cat, I mostly survived on instincts rather than clear thoughts, it was tough to keep control of them. Which was sad. Really sad. An old Death eater, not a very good one, obviously, as I had been planning Voldemort's utter demise for most of it, unable to rein in their emotions. Merlin! I was acting like a damn, heart-on-their-sleeve Hufflepuff. I bottled my anger with difficulty as Lupin said,

"Not yet, Regulus." I nodded tightly, sharply. Sirius stared at Pettigrew with loathing. So did I. Pettigrew ruined my brother's life. He deserved a life in Azkaban for that. Not the kiss, mind you. Personally, I've never been cruel enough to think anyone should deserve that. I remember how, when I had trouble with the unforgivable, that Malfoy would say,

"_The little pansy prince thinks it's below him to get his hands dirty!" _ Those insults used to bother me when I was loyal (cough, cough two months.) They always made me try harder. And once, only once, it worked. I managed it. I killed a muggle. His six-year-old daughter had been in the same room. She had begun to sob over his body when the other Death Eaters realized I couldn't repeat the unforgivable. It made me literally sick to do it. I felt as if my soul had rotted out. Murder. It does a terrible thing.

_I can't do this. _Everything seemed to remind me of the crimes I committed, the crimes I did nothing to stop. That's why I had to leave. I'm not scared of death; I accepted it long ago. Fourteen years ago, in fact.

"Two of us should be chained to this," I heard Sirius say. When I managed to wrench myself back to the present, I saw Sirius roughly kicking Pettigrew.

"I'll do it," Lupin agreed instantly. No surprise there.

"And me," Ron snarled. I immediately stepped forward.

"No! You'll hurt your leg even more! You shouldn't even be walking as it is!" Harry muttered something that sounded like,

"Like bloody Madame Pomphrey..." I whipped around to stare at him,

"I am not! I'd never be able to struggle with _that many students _trying to escape without finally hexing someone into a permanent residency in the Hospital Wing!" Severus snorted,

"If I remember correctly, you were always the one she had to body bind to keep in bed." I put on an offended expression.

"That was once! And there was no reason for me to be forced into staying in bed for a _shoulder _injury!" Severus just raised an eyebrow, saying,

"I remember you promptly collapsing onto the ground and spraining your wrist as soon as you tried." I grumbled,

"Yeah, yeah… It wasn't a smart idea; I get it…" Sirius grinned. It seemed to me that he'd never heard that story before. He probably did at school at least once. After all, it was one of many of my tries to escape Madame Pomphrey's clutches. I was quite famous for them at school. Anyone would, after having Madame Pomphrey rush into the Great Hall screaming, "BLACK! IF YOU DON'T GET BACK IN THE HOSPITAL WING _RIGHT NOW_, THEN YOU'LL BE IN THERE FOR A MONTH!" My personal favorite time was when she screamed, "BLACK! IF YOU DON'T GET BACK IN HERE RIGHT _NOW_, THEN I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU STAY IN HERE 'TILL YOU GRADUATE!" They were always quite amusing and quite common. The other Slytherins 'frowned upon my lack of subtlety'. I told them that I 'frowned upon being treated like a dense toddler.' They shut up pretty quickly after that.

"I remember how Madame Pomphrey sometimes made your injuries heal slower just to keep you from leaving." Sirius said.

"Or that time you escaped, and she made you walk around on muggle crutches for six weeks," Severus said. I frowned at both of them. Of all the bloody things to agree on…

"I find it quite amusing that you two just agreed on something." Both Sirius and Severus blinked, looked at each other, scowled, turned back to me, and glowered some more. I smirked. Lupin had already chained Pettigrew to himself, so I stepped forward and volunteered myself to be chained, too. When I stepped forward, Lupin said dryly,

"Are you sure? Or are you too busy gossiping with the other children?" I heard Hermione huff at having her professor (even though he was hated) called a child. I shrugged and said,

"Hey, I was a bit stressed out tonight. Plus with re-becoming a human after so long… I'm a bit off-character at the moment. I'm sure that after a week I'll wake up and be properly mortified by my behavior." Lupin shorted and shook his head, saying in disbelief,

"Why weren't you in Gryffindor?" I mocked a look of hurt,

"Oi! I'm Slytherin through and through! Just… minus the evil, prejudiced prat part of it…" Sirius rolled his eyes,

"I thought that was all of it." Smirking, I motioned for the kids to lead the way through the Shrieking Shack. Sirius went after them. Then Severus and Lupin, Pettigrew, and I. I slowly walked back out of the tunnel and into the Hogwarts grounds.

"You know what this means?" Sirius burst out, grinning at Harry. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"It means that I'll finally stop having heart attacks every time you do something stupid," I said with a grin. Both ignored me.

" You' re free, " said Harry.

"Or you could say it like that," I grumbled quietly.

"Yes... , " Sirius said, sounding extremely awkward. "But I'm also-I don't know if anyone ever told you-I'm your godfather. "

"Yeah, I knew that, " said Harry. He also sounded strange. Probably because he was remembering how he wanted to kill Sirius when he found out. Hermione told me all about it. I grinned at Harry,

"Don't worry, Potter. I'm sure your father wanted to kill Sirius a few times, too." Harry looked at me, mouth open, as I effectively spoke his thoughts. "I seem to remember James Potter looking strangely slug-like after your mother once said she'd rather date the giant squid than him."

"Shut up, Reggie," Sirius said immediately, turning back to Harry and acting like my comment never happened,

"Well... Your parents appointed me your guardian. If anything happened to them... " Harry looked surprised but hopeful. "I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle. " I let out an amused cough. I had heard many of Harry's rants about his current guardians. "But... Well... Think about it. Once my name's cleared... If you wanted a... A different home... " Harry's mouth seemed to go slack, leaving him to gape at Sirius.

"Grimmauld Place could definitely be described as different," I muttered. Sirius looked at me, alarmed,

"I'm not going back there, Reggie." I sighed at my brother's lack of logic.

"Sirius… You have no other home. It'll just be a few weeks before you can get a flat. I, for one, also think you'd be interested in seeing if dear old mum's dead." Sirius nodded, still not liking the situation.

"What-live with you?" Harry said in surprise.

"And probably me while you're at Grimmauld," I said. Once again, I was ignored.

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to, " said Sirius quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd -"

"Are you insane?" Harry near-shouted.

"That's up for debate," I muttered.

"Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

"You want to?" Sirius said excitedly. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" Sirius said nearly hopping around in joy. Severus looked at them with contempt as Sirius acted like a bloody schoolgirl with a new bit of gossip. Harry had a bit better control, but his eyes were still shining with happiness.

"One wrong move, Peter, " Lupin said furiously. He still wanted to kill, Pettigrew, that much was obvious. Still, though, he respected Harry enough not to kill him if Harry didn't want him to. After all, it was Harry that lost absolutely everything that night. Suddenly, a cloud moved and moonlight began to stream through the cracks. Severus froze as understanding flew through him. Seconds later, Lupin froze too, and I understood. Lupin's long limbs began to sake crazily, as if he was having a heart attack. I suppose, in a way, he was. As a werewolf, his heart had to pump twice as fast. Fur began to sprout from his arms, and it was all anyone could do just to stare at him for a few precious moments. Then Hermione was able to gasp out,

"Oh, my - He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run, " Sirius breathed as loud as he dared for Lupin's transformation was nearly complete . "Run. Now. " Both Harry and Hermione glanced at Ron, then back again. I understood, they knew Ron couldn'tkeep up with them, and they refused to leave him behind. Of course they wouldn't; they were Gryffindors.

"Severus!" I cried, "Take them! Go! Get back to the castle!" Severus glanced at me, and I could see a small amount of fear in his eyes, just like at school after his fifth year. That was why he hated Lupin. He couldn't help but be slightly scared of Lupin as a werewolf; and he loathed any part of him that had to do with fear. For a couple moments, he was frozen with his fear. By then it was almost too late.

"Leave it to us-RUN!" I shouted.

Lupin snarled loudly, froth gleaming in his half-human mouth. His head began to grow longer and his body even taller. Furry arms were wrapped around himself as if to stop the terrible pain. Had Lupin been thinking straight, he would have known that was useless. His hands began to sprout into claws. Sirius transformed hastily. I didn't. My cat form was small, and without any experience of keeping a werewolf in check, I would be more a hindrance than a help. Sirius dove at Lupin just as he reared, using as his force. Emotions had been running high today; the wolf was faster, stronger, and more eager to kill than it would have usually been. Not to mention the fact that five humans were standing there waiting for it to come. That thought shook me into action. I shoved Severus , enough to get him moving, and Ron, Hermione, and Harry followed him at his order, but they still refused to leave Ron behind and moved slowly.Pettigrew dived for Lupin's wand, and Harry still backing away from the scene slowly, yelled,

"Expelliarmus. "

"Stay where you are!" I cried loudly. Of course he didn't listen to me. Pettigrew transformed, his body shrinking quickly into his rat form. I yelled,

"Go! I'll take care of Pettigrew!" Then I grabbed Lupin's wand and stuck it in my pocket before transforming. My orange fur, very visible in the moonlight, I streaked after the rat, but it moved quickly. Using my sense of smell, I could follow him, not to mention that my eyesight was great in the dark. Pettigrew's form began to lose speed as he became tired. I gained distance, then pounced, missing by mere centimeters as Pettigrew dove to the side, into a large clump of ferns. We ran along a spindly path high above the Black lake from the side of the Forbidden Forest. Pettigrew dove behind a large rock, and when I turned to corner, I saw he was effectively cornered, even in his rat form. He transformed back in a flash, and I did the same. Mid-transformation Pettigrew shoved me heavily, and my mostly human body stumbled towards the cliff side, and went to over the edge.

My fully-human body fell through the air and shock flashed through my eyes. What the hell was happening? I couldn't truly be falling through thin air, could I? The impact of freezing water made me understand immediately how precarious my situation was. Limbs aching with sudden cold, I tried to move them in… What way was up again? Suddenly, the blue light before me seemed to flicker and become green. _Something was grabbing me…. Hands, dead hands… Hundreds of them all pulling at me desperately…_ No… no! It wasn't real. I shook my head as my chest began to ache for air, burning… A feeling I had felt only once before. _Something was throwing its arms around my struggling body… Grasping me with ease as it dragged me under… _I took out Lupin's wand, thankful for the waterproofing spells they came with and pointed it at myself. By this point, my lungs were dying for me to take in a breath; even though I knew it would be suicidal.

"Levicorpus!" I cried out, bubbles flying from my mouth. My ankle began to rise through the water. _So that way was up… Huh… _I had been trying to swim the other way. With a hard impact that did no help to my throbbing lungs, I crashed against a cold, hard sheet over the surface of the water. I ran a hand along it, pounding against it… It was ice. I was trapped.

**Wow… I'm pretty pleased with this chapter. The beginning could be better, but the ending came out as I wanted it. Thanks to all my reviewers and readers, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Sorry 'bout the cliffhanger, but I'll try to not make you wait very long for the next chapter… **

**Please leave a review, they inspire me to update faster! Flames are welcoming and even encouraged! I can't get better if I don't know what's wrong with it! Besides, everyone gets a hug from Fred this time! (Even though, he's never going to really be a big character in this…)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, sorry for the disappointment people! I know everyone thought that J. K. Rowling was a fourteen-year-old that has severe grammar and spelling problems. Sorry to burst all of your bubbles.**

**kittyhawk09 - Sorry that my hug wasn't well-received. I hope you enjoy the chapter, though, and thanks again for the PM.**

**roseandfudge - Really? That's cool. He's my favorite character in all. Glad you liked my hug!**

**Swimdiva87 – Thanks. We'll be following Regulus throughout the entire thing, but that may be surprising. You don't know everything about Regulus! He has another trick up his sleeve! One that is very clearly Gryffindor!**

**Dndchk – Glad you like my sense of humor! I liked that one too! My friends did this personality test thing for me online and it told me "Sense of humor - no comment…" Glad you got the literal part in my cliffhanger! I get the point about Snape. If I have time, then I'll change it. **

**Bookwormlovesharrypotter - I'll always be writing. I was just working on my novel-in-progress for a while. Anyway, here's another update! Hope you enjoy!**

**marylopez0812 - Here's an update! **

**Tessia – Sorry about not catching the Wolfsbane, but the plot bunny didn't seem to want to run in that direction. *Glares heavily at a small white bunny* That things evil I tell you! *Is dragged away by cops for animal abuse while screaming 'Nooooo!'* Severus definitely won't like sticking up for Sirius, but he'll do it for Regulus.**

**LadyDunla - Yay! I'm glad you like it!**


	9. In Dumbledore's Office

A sense of panic flowed through me. Then it faded. In fact, everything was fading. A sense of warm peacefulness surged through me. _I was safe… It was okay… _ The dusky light grew even dimmer in the water. The cold water seemed to warm up, matching my body's temperature. Suddenly, I became aware of a deep pain in my lungs. _Take a breath… _my body seemed to say. Strangely enough, my mouth wouldn't seem to open, like my mind wasn't agreeing to my body's pleas. _Why? _They seemed completely rational. Just take a deep breath; that's all I needed. Through the hazy outline above me, I saw a gleaming white shape fly above me. _Huh. Is it the Angel of Death? Am I dead? No… Death wouldn't be this peaceful… _There was a loud crack as the figure once again pranced above me. A small crack appeared through the obscure, muddled frame above me. It grew bigger quickly, before creating a small hole. _Go up, _my mind seemed to say. I argued. _It's so nice under here, so peaceful and calm. Why should I leave? _The voice was insistent; I poked my head through the hole and immediately took a deep, gaping breath. Hacking loudly, water emerged from my mouth. _How did that even get in there? _I did notice that it tasted considerably better than last time that happened, a little over fourteen years ago. I crawled out of water and collapsed on the ice. The gleaming white figure was nowhere to be seen. On the flat side of the shore, there were three bodies lying on the rocks. On the other side, I could see the tip of a Dementor's cloak disappear over the tall pines. _No… Oh Merlin no… Please tell me they aren't… _I tried to run over to them, slipping over the thinning ice in my haste. I recognized Sirius first. Lying, terribly still, eyes closed, looking peaceful… I fell to my knees beside him. How had everything gone so terribly wrong in a matter of seconds? There was a dull thudding in my temple. It seemed my body refused to allow my mind to forget the near-drowning. A whisper of Sirius' breath hit my face.

"Sirius!" I whisper-shouted, "Sirius!" I was afraid to say it any louder, just in case his eyes would open and all that was inside them was a glassy gleam, an empty gleam. His eyes flickered open for a moment, showing familiar irises that still held emotion, and he muttered,

"Go away, Reggie…" Relief soared through my achy body. He was alive and hadn't received the kiss. How the hell did Harry and Hermione get here? Where the hell was Severus! Sudden noises jerked me from my blissfulness. It was footsteps. I reached inside my clothes for Lupin's wand. As I reached in, my hand brushed a cold glass vial. Of course. I had forgotten about that. When I left to come to Hogwarts, I had made a final plan. A way for Sirius to definitely escape. It was risky. No, worse than risky. Someone would receive the kiss. 'Sirius Black' would receive the kiss, but it wouldn't be him. I've committed true crimes in my life. Sirius never did. I have no one to live for. Sirius does. It seems like worst had come to worst. Pettigrew was gone. Lupin had transformed. Sirius was unconscious. I'm the only one who could do anything, and I refuse to let anything happen to my brother. The footsteps were coming ever-closer; though, I realized, I wouldn't be able to hear them had I not been an Animagus. Still, I had to move fast. My time was dwindling down as was my energy. The first thing I did was switch our clothes. After a few waves of Lupin's wand, I was dressed as Sirius, and he was in my old clothes. They were much too small for him. Of course, they wouldn't be in a few minutes. Then, hands shaking with both fear and exhaustion, I pulled the vials out of my old clothing. Inside, a murky, thick potion swished around. It would be my first time using this potion, but I knew that I had enough to keep me changed for about five hours. By that time, a soulless body would be returned to Azkaban, and it would have no answers and respond to no questions. With a deep swallow, I pulled out a few of my hairs and dropped them in the smaller of the vials. The potion immediately turned a dull orange. Why would I forever be cursed with that ghastly color? I shook my head quickly, ignoring the wave of nausea that rolled through me. Quickly, I pulled a few of Sirius' hair and dropped them into the murky goop. It immediately turned a grey-blue color. The same color as Sirius' eyes. I held Sirius' mouth open and poured the potion inside. He writhed slightly with discomfort as he changed into me. His body shrunk and he lost his mustache and beard. His hair became considerably less greasy. I was left staring into a mirror. Well, almost a mirror. Raising Lupin's wand, I levitated Sirius into the forest, where he would be safe. Then I drank my own potion. I dropped to the stones heavily, clutching my stomach. Oh Merlin! I didn't know it would hurt that much! To my disgust, I felt myself grow a long beard and my hair become distinctly Severus-like. Well isn't that just bloody wonderful. After my transformation into Sirius, I tried to stand only to discover that my limbs seemed to refuse to work. They were still shaking badly. Unable to focus, I allowed my eyes to slowly slip shut.

When I awoke, harsh, garish light was flickering in through the window. I groaned and curled my ridiculously sore body into a very cat-like sleeping position. There was footsteps close by and voices. I tried to cover my head with my hands to try and stop the heavy vibrations. I must be on the floor, my sluggish mind realized. When my hand grazed my hair, I was shocked for a moment to discover that it was unreasonably long and greasy. What the Hell? That's when everything came crashing back. Pettigrew. Sirius. Almost dying. Switching places. I could _hear _Severus in my head telling me exactly how stupid I was to try this. He would also have said that this is absurdly Gryffindor. Then again, I had to agree. Leon would have laughed and gave me a slap on the back for managing to fool the entire Ministry. Suddenly, I heard footsteps echoing just outside the room. Immediately, I put my Occulmency barriers up, after so long with Voldemort, I was rather good at it. Then I tried to pull myself to a sitting position. It didn't work. Dumbledore entered the room. His eyes were cold and hard, and I knew he thought Sirius was guilty.

"It was foolish of you to come here, Black." I shook my head and rasped,

"I'm innocent, Professor!" It was best to give Sirius one more chance to be free. Even with me taking his place… After it was over, Sirius still wouldn't be able to walk around free. Dumbledore looked at me in surprise, he hadn't expected that.

"Really? So who do you say was Secret Keeper?" I answered surely,

"Peter Pettigrew." A curious light appeared in Dumbledore's eyes. He wasn't exactly considering what I had to say, but he was listening. It was much more than I could have hoped for.

"You claim him to be alive?" Dumbledore asked, "How?"

I thought of how best to put it for a second and then said,

"At school, in fifth year, we – James, Peter, and I became Animagi to help L – Remus – with his Lycanthropy. James was a stag, Peter is a rat, and I am a – an orange cat." There was a chance that Dumbledore would want to see me transform. Just because I was in Sirius' body didn't mean that I had his Animagus form, or that I didn't have my own, for that matter. Dumbledore looked mildly intrigued.

"Really? May I see your form?" Grinning slightly in relief that I hadn't told Dumbledore Sirius' real form, I transformed, ignoring my severely aching muscles. As a cat, couldn't stand much better. Seeing Dumbledore's nod, I changed back, really not liking the drain it had on my almost gone energy. Dumbledore was looking at me oddly. Trying to act as Sirius would've, I asked,

"Knut for your thoughts, Professor?" I knew Sirius well enough to know he definitely would've said that. Dumbledore chuckled but made no attempt to answer. I hadn't expected one. After an awkward moment, Dumbledore said,

"I was thinking how strange it was for your form to be a cat. I've never known Sirius Black to be subtle." I grinned back, enjoying the joke, and then answered,

"Well Sir, I don't think orange is exactly a subtle color. It's always been my favorite, though." Ha, far from it. Hadn't I been complaining of its lack of ability to melt into the shadows only hours before? Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully.

"What happened after you began Animagi, Mr. Black." I began to be obsessed with a Psycho. Of course, I didn't say that. Instead, I said,

"We went with Moony – Remus – for the full moons. James was big enough to control him, and I could help. Peter was good for getting under the willow but not much else."

"And with the Secret Keepers?" Dumbledore asked, using that tone that tells you he was willing to hear you out, but if you were lying he would know. Of course, that bloody terrified me. I was completely lying, and I had already felt his feather-light probe try to dig into my mind. I had been able to keep it out.

"James and – and Lily asked me… I – I told them that I w –was too obvious. I told them to – to use Peter." Dumbledore studied my face coolly. I had thought the stuttering had sounded very realistic, like it was painful to say. Well, it was. I'd never thought I'd have to refer to Potter as James.

"And Peter betrayed them?" I nodded firmly.

"I went to check on him on – on that night. He was – was gone. It felt wrong. I went to James and Lily's place, but I only saw the – the ruins and Harry… I was angry… I – I didn't think. I chased Peter to a muggle town, it never occurred to me that it might be a trap. I had my wand pointing at him, but I was shaking to bad to cast anything… Then he – he put his wand behind his back and blew up the muggle street… Then – then he had the audacity to wave a little before cutting off his finger and tr - transforming into – into a rat." Personally, I thought my acting was super amazing. It really sounded like I was there. Instead, I was using Sirius' story and adding some of my own details (like Pettigrew waving.) It all added to my sob story, and I think Dumbledore was buying it. Dumbledore nodded attentively and let me ramble on,

"At that point I decided it was all a joke… All of it… I expected Peter to transform back and James and Lily to jump out and laugh at how worked up I had gotten, and then we would wake up all of the muggles, because surely, they were only asleep. I – I remember seeing a small muggle girl and her neck was broken and thinking that James had gone all out for this prank. That was when I started laughing. I couldn't believe they'd managed to get the Aurors and Lily involved in it, too… I didn't stop laughing until a Dementor came by for the first time in Azkaban." Dumbledore looked at me, a small amount of shock in his eyes. For a moment, I thought I'd slipped up on something in my partway made up story. Then I realized that the impossible had happened: he had believed me. Dumbledore looked at me intently, and then he nodded to himself.

"I think you're right, Mr. Black, but what happened tonight?" I let out a sigh of relief. It was extremely lucky that Dumbledore wasn't even considering the possibility of me not being Sirius. After all, who would keep up the act in order to receive the Dementor's kiss? It was utterly insane, completely crazy. Of course it's me doing it! For a moment, I pondered if I should tell Dumbledore of my own involvement. Then I decided, it was for the best.

"This whole year, I've been trying to catch Peter. Halloween night, slashing the portrait, going after Pettigrew with a knife… Tonight, I was by the Willow when I saw Ron holding the rat. I immediately grabbed it and pulled it under the Willow. Ron followed and broke his leg because of the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione followed after I changed back. They wouldn't listen to an explanation… Harry was standing over me, wand out, when Remus came running in and disarmed him. Then he said 'Where are they, Sirius?' " Dumbledore looked at me, a question evident in his eyes,

"They?" he repeated.

"That's what I was thinking too. Remus told me he used the Marauder's Map, a map James, Remus, Peter, and I made in school, it tells you where and who everyone is in the Castle, and saw Peter's name and another one."

"Who was that other one?" Dumbledore asked, curiously.

"My brother, Regulus Black." Dumbledore's eyes widened considerably. "At first, I thought he was helping Pettigrew… But he told us a story on how he and L – Wilkes faked his death because he defied Voldemort in a – a big way." Merlin! It was just as hard to say it a second time, especially trying to explain it like I hadn't been there. At least now my head wasn't pounding as hard.

"What did he do?" Dumbledore asked me. I shut my eyes, hoping for strength. This was so much harder than I imagined. I had been hoping for a few minutes of pain and then… nothingness.

"He – he said that when he became unenchanted with the – Voldemort , he picked up on hints that Voldemort dropped in the Meetings." I trailed off letting out a weak, awkward cough. My voice was dying. I was exhausted. All I had to do before falling asleep was telling Dumbledore the full story.

"What 'hints'?" Dumbledore prompted after a short moment. I cleared my throat.

"Hints about immortality and splitting into seven. He found out Voldemort had more than – than one h – horcrux?" Purposefully, I stumbled over the word as if I had heard it for the first time tonight. Like it hadn't obsessed me those last few months before I faked my death. I was rewarded. It had always taken a lot to shock Albus Dumbledore. Mild curiosity, maybe, but absolute shock? Never. Until now. He choked on that damn candy he's always sucking on, _violently _choked on it. I was tempted to be like, 'yeah, yeah, I get it, shock of your life,' but Sirius would have never said that. However, he would have said this.

"Do you need a cough drop, Professor?" Dumbledore stopped coughing and shook his head somberly. I continued the tale.

"I, Remus, and Regulus managed to convince Harry, Ron, and Hermione when Snivellus-"

"Snape!" Dumbledore immediately rebuked. Ouch. That hurt. I knew how much that name hurt Severus when he was in school. Still, I waved a hand uncaringly,

"Well he came in and said he was going to call the Dementors, but Regulus managed to convince him to listen to the entire story. Snape had known Regulus was alive but not of his Animagus form. We exposed Pettigrew and left the shack when Remus transformed. I tried to stop him and managed to get him away from the kids. Then the dementors came. I passed out and woke up here." The end had been condensed considerably, but the last thing I wanted was to slip and screw everything up. Dumbledore still looked shocked over the horcrux business. Of course, who wouldn't be? It wasn't everyday that you found out a murdering, mad wizard/monster was immortal. Dumbledore stared at me a moment, and I felt another probe into my mind. He didn't break my shield.

"I believe you, Mr. Black," he said. I could tell he was still wary. Rolling my eyes (mentally, of course), I flipped my left arm over, expecting to see the unblemished skin that Sirius undoubtedly had. Instead, I saw my unmistakable scar from the Dark Mark. I could feel Dumbledore's eyes on it. Dammit.

"I think you'd better explain this, Black."

**Hey guys. Sorry for leaving you on that cliffhanger for so long. *Grins sheepishly*. I won't waste all of our time with the whole 'I was so busy!' speech. I should have updated this a while ago. **

**Anyway, Read and Review please! I'm hoping to get to 70 reviews for this. Yes? Please? Maybe? You know you want toooooo! Especially for a hug from… George! **

**Coming up: An awkward explanation from Regulus and a confrontation with multiple people that did not appreciate his plan to save Sirius.**

**Mrs. Regulus Arcturus: I know1 Awesome cliffhanger for that one! Everyone loves near-death experiences! Thanks for the boost to my ego (not that it needed it!)**

**Bookwormlovesharrypotter : Hope you enjoy! Sorry it took a while!**

**marylopez0812 : Personally, I liked the cliffhanger, but that's because I knew what happened next.**

**Arrow Riddari: That was my reaction when I read the 7****th**** Harry Potter book for the first time (Chapter: Kreacher's Tale. Yes, I have it mostly memorized! )**

**kittyhawk09: I actually got this idea from****Loki Mischeif-Maker "Double Trouble: 1993". It has Regulus under the Willow, too, but mine is still very different. Her Regulus is much more… logical… than mine ever was. You should read that sometime.**

**Smithback: Uhynk Ziouou. (That's thank you in a made up language I created years ago, if you're wondering)**

**LadyDunla : What do I say? I definitely am good at surprises. (And oh so modest , too!) **

**nalinim : Thank you!**

**Anyway… Hope you enjoyed!**


	10. Help From an Old Friend

Way to go me. I managed to completely destroy Dumbledore's trust in me in less than a moment. It seemed the Dark Mark didn't change with Polyjuice. Of course it didn't. I mean, when could anything go right for me, _ever_?

"Professor… I – I," I stuttered out, surprise alight in my eyes. He was staring at me coldly; any trace of the warmth his eyes had previously held was gone. I glanced once more at what should have been unblemished skin. It wasn't my imagination; I still had the Mark. Damn it! Why couldn't I ever, ever escape that part of my life! No matter how far I go; how long it's been… I'll always have it.

"_I don't want to hear more lies, Black,"_ Dumbledore said. He was looking at me like he had Lucius Malfoy when he'd been in Hogwarts. It was far worse than any glare I'd received as a student. Dumbledore had looked upon me with pity. There was no pity in his gaze. Sure, there was a bit of regret. Dumbledore was, and rightly so, completely against the Dementor's kiss, but it's still hard to summon pity for a murderer. It dawned on me that at this point, Sirius, himself, would have been doing a better job at convincing Dumbledore of his innocence. I lowered my head, removing my gaze from Dumbledore's eyes. _Game over._

Suddenly, there was a bang as the door flew open. Severus stepped in. I looked at him for a moment and then gaped a bit. Severus? Coming to help whom he thought was Sirius? No. He was helping Sirius because for all he knew, I was still out in the forest looking for Pettigrew. Severus wasn't stupid, despite what Sirius and Potter used to say, and he knew I'd be hurt, badly, if Sirius was given the Kiss. He was doing this for me.

"Headmaster! Black's innocent!" Dumbledore seemed slightly astonished. Of course he was. He knew as well as I did that Severus was on his side for good. There was no chance that he was doing this for the Dark Lord. Still, here he was, protecting his oldest enemy. An enemy whom, according to Dumbledore, had the Dark Mark.

"_Explain, Severus,"_ Dumbledore ordered. Severus looked a bit surprised himself. It was obvious, at least to me, why. Severus had always thought, and rightly so, that Dumbledore treated Potter, Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew, along with the rest of Gryffindor, better than he treated Slytherin house. I could easily see his point; even with my loyalty to Sirius, I still thought he should have been expelled after the Willow incident that Severus had almost been killed at. Instead, he just got a lot of steps closer to his goal of having the most detentions ever.

"After Black pulled Weasley under the Willow and broke his leg, _idiot bastard_; he attempted to explain everything. Lupin joined him, convinced of his innocence, _the naïve fool_." I held back a chuckle. Only Severus could attempt to save someone from receiving the Dementor's Kiss and still insult them as he did it.

"Severus," Dumbledore reprimanded. It was clear that he wanted the short version of the story, but as I had first knowledge of this, there was no short version.

"I was taking Lupin his potion at this point. When I got to Lupin's office, he wasn't there, but I saw him go under the Whomping Willow. I followed. Potter's invisibility cloak was there, and I used it to go under. When I got under there, Regulus Black was explaining why he faked his death in the first place, and how he did it-"

"How did he do it?" Dumbledore asked. Severus paused for a moment, collecting up the right words.

"Leon Wilkes and I helped him. I brewed the Draught of Living Death; Leon pretended to kill him. Then he transformed into his Animagus form, something he didn't tell me about until tonight." I winced as Severus scowled. I hadn't wanted him to be in danger. If he knew something, and the Dark Lord used Legimency to break into his mind (at that point all of our shields were shaky, although Severus was very clearly the most talented at it).

"What is his form?" Dumbledore asked curiously. I hadn't mentioned that. Of course he would ask. The moment Dumbledore found out, he'd realize whom I really was. Just bloody perfect, isn't it?

"An orange cat." I watched as Dumbledore chuckled and turned to me.

"That was a mix of Gryffindor and Slytherin, Mr. Black." I grinned back, relieved at his light tone of voice. He was piecing the story together in his head now.

"Thank you, Professor," I said with a smirk. Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Black? I would've thought that being called Slytherin would offend you." His tone was very cold and hard. It was clear that, despite his half-civil words, he still hated Sirius with a passion. The only reason he was trying to convince Dumbledore of Sirius' innocence was because of me. I could have laughed at the irony in it. Instead, I looked him in the eyes and said,

"It'd be more likely to be offended by the Gryffindor comment." Severus narrowed his eyes. He was trying to figure out what the hidden insult was in those words. Sirius and Severus could never speak a sentence to each other without insulting one another, subtly or not. Dumbledore, his face much brighter than it had been before, asked me,

"So, I assume you believed that Polyjuice would cover the Dark Mark?" I scowled and nodded, saying,

"Damn thing. I spent years wanting it. Got it. Tried to get out of it. Spent years running from it, and now I can't even hide it." I could almost see the wheels turning in Severus' head; of course, after so long without me, the wheels were pretty rusted without my amazing comebacks to keep him on his toes.

"Regulus?" he questioned hesitantly. I grinned and nodded, saying,

"Yop. Sad day when you don't recognize your _bestest friend_, Severus, especially when I'm your only friend." I could feel Severus' temper rising. Uh oh. This was going to be bad. Hurricane Snape has just hit the coast.

"You bloody idiot! Damn Fool! What the hell were you thinking!" I grinned sheepishly and said,

"Errr… That Sirius had to escape…" Severus clenched his fists angrily,

"_You're such a dunderhead, Black!"_ he roared. Ouch. You know Severus is serious when he calls you a dunderhead. I've only seen him call Potter and Sirius that.

"_I was protecting my brother, Severus-"_

"That damned Gryffindor isn't worth it!" he seethed furiously. That got me angry. Who was Severus to tell me what to do and not to do to protect those I love? It's not like he's risking his life for a long dead, married woman or anything." No, of course not.

"You're such a hypocrite, Snape! You risk your life everyday for Lily Potter! Have you not realized! _She's dead!"_ Severus stiffened. My anger melted out of me as I saw the broken look in his eyes. I realized just how far my words had cut him. To anyone that hadn't known him, he looked emotionless. In my eyes, I saw a hint of the vulnerability the third year had had when I saw the marks, the scars, his father had left on him.

"Oh Merlin, Severus, I'm sorry!" I said immediately, "I know how much you cared for her." Severus looked into my eyes. His anger seemed to slip out of his tensed limbs. He didn't respond. I didn't expect one.

Dumbledore frowned at us for a moment, and I felt a flash of embarrassment that Dumbledore saw me arguing with another adult, especially when I took a cheap shot on him. Then he said,

"Mr. Black, the Dementors are on their way. I won't be able to stop them from coming here or persuade the ministry to give Sirius a trial-" I cut him off,

"I know, Professor. I'm not rash; well, not nearly as rash as Sirius is anyway. I knew when I pulled out that potion there was no way out. _Will you try to help Sirius after…?_" I swallowed hard as the realizations that I had minutes left with a soul hit me hard. Dumbledore's eyes were dark with regret.

"Of course, Regulus. I only wish I could have been there for you as well." I smiled weakly, though it was no doubt forced.

"You know about the horcruxes; that's the best thing I could have hoped for, Professor." I laughed bitterly, "Voldemort wasn't kidding when he spoke of how being a Death Eater is 'a lifetime of service or death.' I find it obvious, now. I'll be chased until I stop kicking. Making sure they stop hunting Sirius is one of the best ways I could go out." Dumbledore nodded sadly.

"You've grown up a lot since Hogwarts, Mr. Black." I only nodded in response. Grown up? Let's try completely unrecognizable.

"Severus," I said, turning to the silent man, "After… _If I end up where she is… _I'll tell her everything for you." Severus nodded but sent me a small half-smile and said,

"Not necessary, Regulus." I tilted my head slightly to the side, and he turned his head pointedly to the window. Harry and Hermione were standing outside it.

"_You – you prat!_ You knew they were coming!" I yelled at him. He smirked and said,

"You deserved it, Regulus, especially because you had it screwed up so badly before I came in. I didn't know for sure, anyway. After this, I assume I'm going to go down to the Hospital Wing and send them back in time, or at least, that's what I'm planning on. _Potter's likely to screw everything up…_ It's always good to have a back-up plan." I grinned at Severus. That was his way of getting back at me for doing something so crazy. He made me go through a couple of minutes of believing I was going to have my soul ripped out of my body in a ridiculously painful manor. Who said Slytherins play nice?

All three of us heard a voice, Hermione's voice, outside the window,

"_Bombarda!"_ The window fell open, an explosion hitting the lock, which had been purposefully unlocked. Harry and Hermione entered the room through the window. They glanced at me, then at Dumbledore and Severus. Both started gaping. Hermione recovered enough to stutter,

"P-Professors…" Dumbledore chuckled while Severus glared at them like usual.

"It's alright Hermione, Harry." Dumbledore turned to me. "You'd better get going, Mr. Black." Harry and Hermione turned back to the window, and I followed them out. Turning back, I paused for only a second to wave behind me.

"C'mon, Regulus." That surprised me.

"How'd you know…?" I asked them, warily. Hermione grimaced and looked at Harry. He answered.

"We went back in time with the Time Turner. After Lupin transformed, we were waiting it out on the other side of the lake. We saw you fall in-"

"I was pushed," I said indignantly. Harry rolled his eyes, and Hermione waved an uncaring hand. I pouted; that detail was very important. I was not clumsy enough – _or scatter-brained_ – enough to do something so stupid as to fall into the Black Lake. Harry continued their story,

"Well, Hermione was positive you drowned, and she was freaking out. I casted the Patronus charm, and it made a – a…? What was it Hermione?" The girl in question rolled her eyes and said,

"A corporeal Patronus."

"Thanks Hermione!" Harry said perkily. She rolled her eyes. Again.

"You know," I said lightly, "If you keep doing that your eyes will get stuck like that one day." Hermione glared at me, and I raised my hands in mock surrender. "Just saying."

"You look like Evans used to," I said with a quiet chuckle as we mounted Buckbeak.

"Evans?" Harry asked. For a second, I blinked in shock. How had Harry never learned his mother's maiden name? Then I said.

"Lily Evans, later known as Lily Potter. She hated your father at first, Harry. Until her seventh year, then they were so much in love that a lot of people – my sixteen-year-old self included – found it sickening. I can remember her saying she'd rather date the giant squid rather than James Potter. Of course, before Sirius ran away, I caught him more than once sending her love letters from it." Harry looked at me curiously,

"Sirius ran away?" I nodded, my eyes gleaming with memories,

"Yeah. He was… either fifteen or sixteen. I'm not exactly sure; we weren't talking at that point. I was already too deep with Voldemort and his Death Eaters. _Yeah…_ I was furious with him for shaming the family… At that point I wanted nothing more than to be a slave to a half-blood murdering monster. Hell, at that point, _I_ was a monster… It wasn't until a few years later that my views started to change. He went to live with your father, Harry, and he was disowned for it." Buckbeak took a sudden dive, making me wince slightly. Flying on the Hippogriff wasn't horrible, but after over a decade with short, stubby legs that were firmly on the ground, it was hard.

"Why'd he run away?" Harry asked curiously. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, regretting it when Buckbeak lurched to the left suddenly.

"In our – _my, I guess_; I'm probably the only family member not disowned that Sirius will admit to being related to, and he most likely didn't before tonight – Anyway, in the Black family, I was the norm of the family, at least at first. Slytherin, wannabe Death Eater, up to my nose in the Dark Arts… Sirius was almost disowned when he was eleven just for being in Gryffindor. He was the first Black placed there. Ever. Our father was the only reason he wasn't; he said that Sirius was still in a very respectable house. To my father, it would have been worse if he was in Hufflepuff." I chuckled lightly, remembering Sirius' presence in Grimmauld Place.

"My mother, on the other hand, was very… adamant that Sirius do what an 'honorable Black heir' should do. _She was into corporal punishments, too…_ Not all of Sirius' scars are from Azkaban. Now that I look back on it, I'm glad he left. Mother would have gone a lot further to _'break'_ his spirit if he hadn't." Harry was sitting stiffly, his shock evident from his posture. As I was in the back, I couldn't see his face, but I assumed he was gaping. Hermione was shaking slightly. They landed at the edge of the Black Lake. I jumped off, ready to find Sirius. He was starting to stir as I drew near. I noticed that his dose of Polyjuice had already faded.

"Sirius?" Harry said, shaking his arm slightly. He didn't awake. Of course he didn't. This was Sirius we were talking about.

"Here, can one of you lend me a wand?" Hermione raised an eyebrow, but they knew they could trust me; so, she handed me her wand. I bit my lip slightly, not really enjoying the feeling of a wand in my hand. After all, the last time I had held one, for any long amount of time, was when I was ready to die just to escape my old life.

"Aquamenti!" I said, my face pulling into a grin. As the cold water touched Sirius, he bolted upright, even going so far in his shocked state to yell,

"James!" Then he saw whom he was with and muttered,

"Oh." His eyes looked at me; then to Harry. Suddenly, exactly what he was seeing hit him, and his gaze snapped back to me. I grinned sheepishly as he took in my – well, his – appearance. Then he said quietly,

"_Do I really look that bad?"_ I snorted at how vain Sirius still was. Then I said,

"Thanks, brother! So glad that you care about why I'm Polyjuiced into an Azkaban escapee! _I mean, it's not like I was saving your sorry arse or anything!"_

**Hi, everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It took my forever to figure out where to stop it at. There were no good cliffhangers to choose from…**

**Anyway, please read and review. You can get a hug from… um… Harry this time. (Wow, I know this is getting longer when I can't think of a good character off the top of my head!)**

_**THIS IS IMPORTANT!**_

_**I love reading reviews that tell me not only what they liked, but also what to revise in the fic! While, I am not discouraging reviews of any kind, I made up a little points system.**_

_**If you review one of my chapters (in any fic), and in that review have at least:**_

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_**Then you receive a point.**_

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_**For every fifteen points: I will write you a fic! Tell me which characters, and I promise it'll be 1000+ words! The only thing is: I suck at vivid romances. I'm more… heartfelt talk then passionate kissing. I also LOVE doing one character reflecting on a choice they made!**_

_**Send me a PM when you reach one of the numbers. Have it include which chapters you reviewed, how many points you have, (if at this point level) which fic you would like me to red and review, and (if you are at this level) which characters/ prompt/ what you want in the fic I write for you!**_

_**Remember, if you don't have time for a constructive review, just give me a little one anyway. I DO NOT IN ANY WAY DISCOURAGE ANY TYPE OF REVIEW! Tell me just how terrible this is, if it's your opinion! I DO NOT get offended easily over my fics!**_

**Thank you to all my reviewers from last chapter!**

**fan-de-carlisle-cullen : Well, here's the next chapter, and they did survive!**

**Bookwormlovesharrypotter : Sorry! It's been a while since I last updated!**

**Drick : Thanks! Hope you enjoy this update!**

**roseandfudge : Yep! Glad to know that I'm not insane for thinking that!**

**LadyDunla : I love cliffhangers! It's more rare for me not to use one.**

**Smithback : Thanks!**

**Mrs. Regulus Arcturus Black: Well, they both lived, obviously. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as last one.**

**kittyhawk09 : Thanks! Hope you like this chapter!**

**briodeo97 : Thanks!**

**I got a question from a guest: How did Regulus confound the lady from the Pet shop without a wand?**

**A: Well, I never even thought about that, truthfully. After thinking it over, I'm going to say that she was careless with her wand (These are pre-Voldemort's return days). So, all Regulus had to do was sneak in, transform, and grab it.**

**Bye, guys! I don't know when I'll have the next chapter up by, sorry!**


	11. Acting

Sirius stared at me, shock written all over his face. His mouth opened, and then closed. Finally he breathed,

"_What happened?_" I took a deep breath, trying to not let my emotions run away from me. Unfortunately, they were at a full sprint and doing better than a muggle marathon runner. Sirius could tell; I'm sure of it. He also knew how intensely atypical it was. As a former Slytherin, I knew how to hide my emotions. You had to. We weren't brash, foolish, heart-on-their-sleeve Gryffindors. Swallowing hard, I answered,

"I polyjuiced into you to take the Kiss and –" I saw Sirius' eyes widen and quickly realized that was not a good way to start. At all.

"_What the hell, Reggie!"_ I flinched back, unable to help it. Sirius jumped to his feet and stalked towards me until we were almost touching.

"YOU JUST RISKED YOUR LIFE – YOUR SOUL!" I opened my mouth to reply, but Sirius wasn't done ranting.

"YOU"RE A FOOL, REGULUS! YOU ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! YOU – YOU DEATH EATER!" I heard Hermione gasp loudly. My mouth snapped shut audibly. Sirius had called me a death eater. After all I had done. I began to shake with rage, my limbs trembling harshly. I gave one final, fruitless attempt to wrangle my emotions back. It didn't work. Merlin! If Sev saw me now…

"_How dare you, Sirius!_ DO YOU THINK I HAVEN'T TRIED TO FIX IT! TO FORGET IT! IF I COULD CHANGE IT… but I know by now that I _can't._ If you don't, just – just stay away from me Sirius. We brought Buckbeak. You need to leave. The Minister will probably be coming soon." As I spoke, Sirius seemed to realize his mistake. His mouth opened to gape as I spoke.

"_Reggie-"_ he said softly. I shook my head and said,

"Just don't, Sirius." He opened his mouth again, and I felt anger fly through me.

"LEAVE, SIRIUS!" I yelled. Casting one more look at me, he turned to Harry.

"Sirius, you'd better go, quick, " Harry said softly, his eyes glancing from me to Sirius and back. "They'll reach Flitwick's office any moment, they'll find out you're gone. " I shook my head, saying,

"They probably already have." Sirius glanced at me, but one look at my cold expression seemed to say more than words could. Still, wit never was Sirius Black's strong-point.

"What about you, Reggie?" My eyes flashed once, and I had to forcibly calm myself down.

"I'll be going up to the castle. We can't have Hermione's cat disappearing, can we?" I said with a patronizing tone. I glanced at Hermione. She knew that wasn't my only reason for not going with Sirius. I twisted my face into a light smirk and said,

"But I expect I won't be sleeping in her bed anymore." Sirius bit his lip, obviously deciding to try his luck and said,

"_You could come with me, Reggie…_" I looked at Sirius calmly, using all that seven years in Slytherin taught me and said,

"I worked hard to put my past behind me, Sirius. _If you can't do the same…"_ My eyes flickered pointedly to the skin of my left arm. Sirius paled and flinched. Then he turned back to Harry, asking,

"What happened to the other boy? Ron?"

"He's going to be okay. He's still out of it, but Madam Pomfrey says she'll be able to make him better. Quick-go -" Sirius' eyes were staring at Harry's bright green eyes. I could tell he was lost in memories.

_"How can I ever thank -"_

"GO!" Harry and Hermione shouted together. Sirius' eyes flicked once more towards me, and another pang of anger leapt through me.

"_Are – are you sure, Reggie?"_ Coldly, I said,

"Go."

"We'll see each other again," Sirius promised both Harry and I. _"You are-truly your father's son, Harry..."_ With that last cryptic statement, Sirius swung a leg over Buckbeak and mounted. He glanced at all of us for one more moment, his eyes turning to each of us. There was pain in his gaze as he saw me. I ignored it. Then Buckbeak surged forward, and in seconds, Sirius was swallowed by the clouds. Sighing, I closed my eyes, feeling quite exhausted. Then I said lightly,

"That was emotional." Harry's jaw dropped at my intense change in emotions.

"_Wh-"_ he began to say, only to have Hermione step on his foot. "Ow!" he said indignant. She ignored him. I snickered, deciding to humour them,

"I was a Slytherin. I know how to hide my emotions. Sirius has been the only one to get a rise out of me since I was twelve. _He always could_…" I frowned as I finished, realizing I had not meant to say all of that. Hermione nodded at my statement, realizing that I wanted no more questions asked. Harry, however, was elbowed in the ribs as soon as he opened his mouth. I shook my head at his offended expression.

"Oh- And Harry. I disagree. You're nothing like James Potter was. You're a much better person." As we neared the castle, I stopped suddenly and transformed. Hermione glanced up at the huge clock, impassively, only to have her mouth drop open in horror.

"_Come on, Harry!"_ She grabbed his arm and together they sprinted through the castle. Dreadfully confused, I followed at my swiftest pace, my fur an orange blur. Panting, Hermione, Harry, and I reached the infirmary. They darted to the doors, panting, just as Severus said,

"I'm locking you in. Three turns, Granger. I trust you won't run this with your idiocy, Potter." Severus stepped out of the door and took out his wand to lock it. Panicking, Harry and Hermione ran forward. Severus looked up and saw them, smirking as he saw me collapse on the floor next to them, panting.

_"Well?"_ he said quietly.

"We did it!" said Harry breathlessly. "Sirius has gone, on Buckbeak... " Severus glared at them,

"I could care less about where that moron is. I did this for Regulus, Potter." I meowed, trying to show my thanks. Severus glanced down at me and nodded slightly. He recognized my attempt.

"Your past selves are gone -" Severus said. _"Get inside."_ Without arguing, Harry and Hermione slipped inside. I transformed back for a moment.

"Thank you, Severus," I said. He sneered at me, which I recognized as his way of covering slight embarrassment.

"Get inside, Regulus. You could still ruin it." Rolling my eyes, I changed back and stepped into the Hospital Wing. As I entered, I was positive I heard Severus snicker and mutter something about orange fur. The Hospital Wing was empty except for Ron, who was still clutching at his leg, even as he was asleep. Ouch, it was probably healing. Harry and Hermione ran back to their own beds; Hermione tucking the Time-Turner back under her robes. I crept over to the window and jumped onto its sill. A moment later, Madam Pomfrey came striding back out of her office.

"Did I hear Professor Snape leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?" She was frowning intensely at them, taking her anger at Severus out at them. I laughed silently as Harry and Hermione both meekly accepted their chocolate, looking like anything but Gryffindors. Madam Pomfrey stood over them, making sure to go all mother hen on them. Harry was biting his lip nervously. It was clear he was still worried about Sirius. Of course he was. Harry was smart enough to realize that if anyone could screw this rescue up, it'd be Sirius. Still, we made sure it was pretty easy for him. _ As long as he didn't fall off Buckbeak… _Suddenly, we all heard a roar of fury... I smiled in my form. It was Severus. No one could be such a great Occulmens and a good spy without being a good actor. The kids were about to realize that.

_"What was that?"_ said Madam Pomfrey in anxiety. Angry voices seemed to flood the Hospital Wing, followed by the heavy thudding of feet. I grinned lightly. Madam Pomfrey was watching the doorin apprehension. "Really-they'll wake everybody up! What do they think they're doing?" I could see the others trying to hear what the voices were saying. They were getting both louder and clearer.

"He must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out -"

"HE DIDN'T DISAPPARATE!" Severus roared. I could tell how much he was enjoying blowing up on Fudge like that. "YOU CAN'T APPARATE ORDISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS-HAS-SOMETHING-TO-DO-WITH-POTTER!" Harry and Hermione stared at the door before facing each other. I laughed silently as they gawked at each other.

"Severus-be reasonable-Harry has been locked up -" The door to the Hospital Wing was flung open. Fudge, Severus, and Dumbledore came running into the ward. Dumbledore looked calm, unlike the other two. Though, I could see that both Severus and Dumbledore were enjoying this. Fudge appeared angry. Severus appeared livid. I have to hand it to him; he is an amazing actor, not that he'd admit it to anyone.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" he roared. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" At this point, I was barely able to keep from falling off the window sill with mirth.

"Professor Snape! Control yourself!" Madam Pomfrey cried. Severus wouldn't like to hear that.

"See here, Snape, be reasonable, " said Fudge. "This door's been locked, we just saw -" Hearing Fudge trying to calm Severus down did nothing to help me keep my balance.

"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Severus howled, pointing a finger at Harry and Hermione. They looked truly terrified. I couldn't blame them. The first time Severus did that to me… I was waiting to be murdered, for Merlin's sake! He looked deranged, spit flying from his mouth; I noticed that it seemed to only be hitting Fudge.

"Calm down, man!" Fudge shouted. "You're talking nonsense!" Fudge has a lot of personal experience with talking nonsense.

"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" scream Severus. "HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT -" Finally, I could take it no longer. Mewing with rabid laughter, I rolled off the sill and fell to the floor. Madam Pomfrey took one look at me and exclaimed,

"A CAT! OF ALL THE INSANITARY THINGS…" I pouted the best I could in my cat form. Did she just call me dirty? Yes. Actually, she implied that all cats are dirty. Poor Professor McGonagall. Severus looked at me and yelled,

"HOW DID THAT CAT GET IN HERE IF THE DOOR WAS LOCKED! IT'S ALL POTTER'S FAULT; I KNOW IT!"

"That will do, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly. Even though Dumbledore fully enjoyed hearing Severus act like that, he knew it was extremely out-of-character for him not to stop it. "Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since you left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?"

"Of course not!" said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. "I would have heard them!" I meowed out a quiet laugh, earning myself a slight glare from Severus. Oh yeah, these kids definitely hadn't been anywhere but the Hospital Wing tonight.

"Well, there you have it, Severus, " said Dumbledore serenely. "Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further." Severus stood there, seething, his eyes focused on Fudge. Dumbledore was still grinning to himself. Sadly, I noticed that one side of Severus' mouth was beginning to twitch. He obviously realized he was losing his mask, for he spun around, sent me a small grin, and stalked out of the room, robes flying out behind him. _He has to teach me how to do that…_

"Fellow seems quite unbalanced," said Fudge, gazing after him. "I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore. "

"Oh, he's not unbalanced," said Dumbledore gently. "He's just suffered a severe disappointment. "

"He's not the only one!" wheezed Fudge, fixing his stupid hat. "The Daily Prophet's going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that hippogriff's escape to get out, and I'll be a laughing stock! Well... I'd better go and notify the Ministry...

"And the dementors?" said Dumbledore. "They'll be removed from the school, I trust?"

"Oh yes, they'll have to go, " said Fudge, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. "Never dreamed they'd attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy... Completely out of control... No, I'll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight... Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance... "

"Hagrid would like that, " said Dumbledore, sending a grin at all of us. Fudge, still muttering to himself, swept out of the room. For a moment, it seemed as if he was trying to imitate Severus' billowing robes. It didn't work for him. At all. Dumbledore left the Hospital Wing behind him, smiling to himself the entire way. I heard a groan and glanced over. Ron had woken up.

"What-what happened?" he groaned. "Harry? Why are we in here? Where's Regulus? Where's Sirius? Where's Lupin? What's going on?" Harry, Hermione, and I glanced at each other. Suddenly, I sprung up from the floor and raced out of the Hospital Wing. Behind me, I could hear Harry's voice.

_"You explain."_

**Hey guys! Sorry for the wait; I feel like a bit off more than I could chew… Anyway, I'll keep posting. **

**Everyone's lucky to get an update today, though. I had a Migraine come on at around 7:20 AM. I was at school. I realized I couldn't make the day at around 8: 20 and went to the Nurses' Office… Where I promptly threw up. Twice. And began to dry heave. Yay for me. **

**So I went home, covered myself with three blankets, all of which were over my head and laid in bed with tears streaming down my cheeks. The first time I was able to think a coherent thought was around 12:30 PM. It was, 'Ow. My head hurts.' At around 3:00 I got to the point where I was hungry. It's now 8:00 PM, and I still have a headache. In fact, sorry for any typos, I'm trying to avoid looking at the screen as much as possible…**

**Anyway… so, Sirius has escaped. I'm not going to focus much on fourth year in this fic. Most likely I'll do maybe four-five chapters on it before going to fifth year. I have a big surprise planned for fifth year.**

**I have a new poll up. Check it out. It's on if I should continue to answer reviews at the bottom of my chapters, or should I start doing PMs. **

**Disclaimer: I'm still waiting for that birthday gift! I believe it has been lost in the mail. Until I get it, I don't own Harry Potter. **

**Please review! You can get a hug from… Harry! The point system is still up! PM me if you reach two, seven, or fifteen! **

Mrs. Regulus Arcturus Black: Yep! You're right with the points! I won't be able to keep track, so PM me if this was your second! Thanks! I made sure Regulus couldn't get rid of the Mark just to make sure it was clear that this fic will not be one of those fics where all the characters end up with perfect lives. (I hate those with a passion. No, seriously… Once I saw one where everyone came back to life because the Fates liked how Harry killed Voldemort.)

kittyhawk09 : Well, I suppose that's a complement. So anyway, I'm glad you enjoy his musing. It can be hard for me to get that right.

MissSadieKane : I love all fics that Regululs is in… With Harry, I reread that, and I agree with you. Once I'm feeling a bit better (damn Migraine!) I'm going to fix that. I was trying to work on Hermione's characterization and ended up screwing up Harry's. Harry's Aunt had obviously already been married on that Halloween. (It's in the PS prologue.) I doubt she would tell Harry anything about his mum voluntarily; and why would he need to know his Aunt's maiden name? Thanks for the comment about In His Eyes, too.

fan-de-carlisle-cullen : Severus is a hero. And yes, he did send Harry back in time. I make it a lot clearer in this chapter.

**MaraudersAtHeart : I know what you mean about Dumbledore, but he was described in GoF as scary when he was interrogating Crouch Jr. Thanks for reviewing by the way! For your review on Chapter seven: Well, Regulus will be staying on. Severus was right when he said he wouldn't need to make Regulus stay.**

**WitchOfDarkness13 : thanks for the grammar correction! I never even thought about that! As soon as I can look at the computer screen without wincing, I'll try to fix that! For your review on chapter three: That's one of my favorite lines, too! I have a blast writing Regulus' thoughts. Though, considering how Kreacher talks about him, I'm pretty sure he's OOC. Then again, he's not gone into enough as a character to really know, so… I'm glad the interactions are realistic. My only brother is a freshman in college, and I'm a freshman in High school, so we're pretty far apart age wise. **

**Tessia : I had it so that Fudge got there after they left the room. **

**disney-hp-freak : Feel free to steal the idea! I'm a bit confused with how you said Harry and Hermione were 'kinda there.' Was it in the dialogue or in their descriptions? Also, I wanted to thank you for reviewing all of my chapters! That was extremely nice of you. Thank you so much!**

**Okay, so that's all, folks!**


	12. On the Train

It was the day that all the students were returning home. Hermione, with me prancing behind her, was rushing towards the train. Harry and Ron were following her as quickly as they could while still having a moderate amount of control over their trunks. It wasn't working well. Almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind, Ron's trunk swung forward madly. It, to my horror, ran over my tail. I yowled and whipped around, only to barely avoid being run over completely. It didn't end well.

Ron was on the floor, after trying to swerve and tripping over his trunk. Harry had tripped over Ron and was sprawled out, half on top of him. I fluffed my fur up and hissed at them. Ron rolled his eyes at me. Then, with a large amount of dignity, I stood and turned around to follow Hermione. She had spun around to call over her shoulder,

"Harry! Ron! Hurry up or you'll miss the train!" Of course, there wasn't much danger of that. The train wouldn't leave Hogwarts until all students were on board. It was charmed for that. It only worked on the return journey, though. After all, there was always a chance of a mistake at King's Cross station. Besides, as usual, Hermione was early. The only shocking thing was that she had been able to force Harry and Ron into being punctual as well. That deserved a trophy right there. At least, she deserved a trophy more than Tom Riddle did for "services to the school." The only service he did was give the Marauders a little more work in detention when they had to polish trophies. Of course, as a Slytherin and a member of the group of Slytherins that they tortured on a regular basis, that was a gift from Merlin. Of course, to Sirius… Sirius. Oh, Merlin. I haven't heard from Sirius since he left. Since we fought. We had both said things that were better left unsaid, and I regretted it. Still, though, I found it just as hard to swallow my pride as I had when I was younger. Which was stupid, really. Why? Because last time I refused to swallow it, I ended up as a Death Eater. Why does my pride always seem to cause me to make the worst decisions? Who knows? Who cares? Just blame the inbreeding; it always messes everything up! At least it did with Sirius, anyway. He's insane. And Bella. And Narcissa. Andy's cool, though. And I am certainly sane. After all, who but an extremely sane person would fake their own death. Well, other than Pettigrew, but he's the exception. I assure you that all others in the fake – their – death club are quite sane!

As I silently mused, my overworked brain didn't register the step up to get onto the train. As I result, I smacked my chin off of it and fell to the ground in a heap. Owww…. I could feel a bruise forming! That hurt! Behind me, Ron snorted with laughter. I turned to glare at him, and he mouthed,

'You deserved that!' at me. I glared harder from my rather uncomfortable position on the floor. Then a sixth year Slytherin stepped in front of Ron, blocking my view of him. The sixth year was glaring at me. Uh oh. I tried to scramble to my feet but wasn't able to before the damn Slytherin kicked me and exclaimed,

"Get on the train, you damn cat!" Affronted but knowing I could do nothing about it, I climbed up the step and began to follow Hermione's scent. It was easy with my superior cat senses. In fact, I'm pretty sure I set a record with my amazing abilities. And, for the record, it was just coincidence that I happened to be following the scent trail from directly behind Harry and Ron. They did not affect my results at all. Well… except for slowing me down a bit… I mean, it wasn't like I followed them or anything… I'm a Black. We're not followers; we're leaders. Well, except for the majority of my family that has enslaved themselves to a half-blood maniac… They aren't leaders… Truthfully, neither am I. I've always known that. I have to say, though; I have gotten better. Before I joined the Dark Lord, I wanted nothing more than to follow in my cousins footsteps. Of course, I ended up fixing that mistake to the best of my ability, but it will never truly be gone. I can tell Sirius blames me for it, or at least, he did. Perhaps it was only in his anger, but he still, if only for a few moments, blamed me for choices I have tried my hardest to forget. It's only a small consolation that I can say that neither my brother or I are as bad as our cousins were. I suppose it's funny, really. In the Black family, the women are worse than the men. Bella, Cissy… Both were worse than Sirius and I. Bella was far worse. Father had always been both cold and distant but mother… Mother was worse; I'm sure Sirius can attest to that.

Once I was with Hermione, I curled up on one of the seats and relaxed. At first, I was going to try to sleep, but I found that Harry, Hermione, and Ron were talking too loud. So, I immediately began fake – snoring as loud as I could. Only seconds after I began, Ron exclaimed,

"That damn cat snores!" I snorted with laughter, trying desperately not to betray the fact that I was awake. Luckily, I didn't give anything away, for at that moment, a tiny owl flew in, holding a letter. After Ron managed to catch it, the owl willingly dropped his letter. Disgruntled, Ron wrenched it out of his grasp and opened it.

"It's from Sirius!" he cried, handing it to Harry.

"What?" Harry said. "I'll read it aloud!"

"Dear Harry, I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know whether they're used to owl post. Buckbeak and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where, in case this owl falls into the wrong hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he is the best I could find, and he did seem eager for the job. I believe the dementors are still searching for me, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I am planning to allow some Muggles to glimpse me soon, a long way from Hogwarts, so that the security on the castle will be lifted. There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting. It was I who sent you the Firebolt –"

"Ha!" said Hermione victoriously. "See! I told you it was from him!"

"Yes, but he hadn't jinxed it, had he?" said Ron. "Ouch!" I snickered as the owl pecked Ron in a friendly way.

"Regulus took the order to the Owl Office for me, not that I knew it was him at that point. I used your name but told them to take the gold from my own Gringotts vault. Please consider it as thirteen birthdays' worth of presents from your godfather. I would also like to apologize for the fright I think I gave you that night last year when you left your uncle's house. I had only hoped to get a glimpse of you before starting my journey north, but I think the sight of me alarmed you. I am enclosing something else for you, which I think will make your next year at Hogwarts more enjoyable. If ever you need me, send word. Your owl will find me. I'll write again soon.

Reggie-" I immediately frowned at the nickname. "I shouldn't have said those things to you. They were cruel and untrue. I know you believe that you'll never escape the Death Eaters. I can tell you that, even if that is true, you've done a hell of a job trying to. You have done more in this war than anyone – save Dumbledore – has done. I'm proud of you, brother.

Sirius. "

Harry looked into the envelope, wondering what Sirius had gotten him. I sat still, frozen. I never thought I'd hear Sirius say that. He was proud of me, and he forgave me for becoming a Death Eater. It was much more than I had expected. In truth, I expected that when I heard from Sirius next, he'd give a half-hearted apology that seemed to scream 'My pride won't let me really apologize!' That was what would have happened when we were last speaking. Of course, Sirius had changed. I had changed. Harry, a happy but stunned expression on his face, pulled out a slip of paper.

"I, Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather, hereby give him permission to visit Hogsmeade on weekends."

"That'll be good enough for Dumbledore!" said Harry joyfully. Ron looked back at Sirius's letter. "Hang on, there's a PS... "I thought your friend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat. " Ron looked at the little owl with shock.

"He's mine," Ron said quietly. Then, grinning at me, he asked,

"So, Regulus, this is definitely an owl, right? No more Animagi?" I let out a short purr. Ron grinned.

"That's enough for me."

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**Hey guys! Sorry that it has been so long! High School is getting a bit more difficult ****. Though, on a funnier note, a little bit ago, I completely wiped out on the stairs at school. The girl behind me was like, "Oh my god!" And I was just like, "Don't worry it happens all the time!" **

**Okay, so with this chapter: Regulus seems a bit too childish to me. Though, I would like to say: After so many years as an Animagus, he is not quite sane. **

**This is not the end of this fic; I'm going all the way to the defeat of Voldemort. Actually, I already have the entire fifth year drafted out. I just don't know what I'll do for GoF.**

**Disclaimer: Me: Can I please have it?**

**Them: No.**

**Me: Please?**

**Them: You're an idiot. Go away.**

**I don't own Harry Potter!**

**Please read and review!**


	13. Consequences

Once at Hermione's house, she waited until her parents were asleep for the night before asking me to change back. I did, in the silence of her room.

"Regulus…" Hermione began, "How are we going to make this work?" I said, truthfully,

"I don't really know, Hermione. I must say that it was a… rash decision to join you." Hermione scoffed slightly,

"I know. You didn't exactly ask me before hand. I assumed you'd go with Sirius." I stiffened as she said his name. There was no one listening here and no one that could overhear, but still, it was not a good habit to be in. Referring to a wanted criminal by his real name was a mistake that could cost a lot.

"Do not call him Sirius," I admonished. "No one will hear us here, but it's better to not be in the habit. Call him… I don't know… Maybe that ridiculous nickname he goes by? Padfoot? That's better, but a death eater will still recognize it."

"Why would a death eater recognize it?" Hermione asked confused. "I thought it was only Harry's dad. Lupin, S – Padfoot, and P – Oh." I nodded grimly. She understood that Pettigrew would go straight to the Death Eaters.

"Pettigrew has put us into a near impossible position. He knows too much about how things run at Hogwarts, too much about me and Sirius, and certainly too much about Severus."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. I sighed. Sometimes, I forget these children did not grow up with a war as Sirius and I did. They, especially Hermione as a muggleborn, grew up with peace.

Peace. It was a strange thing, so… taken for granted by those whom had it. Once you lost it, you realized just how special it really was. Yet, those who lived without it were never prepared to lose it, and those who grew up with it never truly gained it.

"I know I told you Severus was a death eater. He decided not to take the coward's way out as I did." Hermione said quickly,

"You didn't take the coward's way out!" I chuckled slightly. No, I suppose I didn't, but faking my own death was not a brave thing to do, either.

"If you believe what I did was brave, then what Severus did was worthy of a Gryffindor." Hermione looked slightly scandalized at her hated potion's master and head of Slytherin possibility of having Gryffindor tendencies. "At that point, I believed myself to be alone; even within the death eaters at many times. Even Leon was loyal; Severus was the same. Soon after, from what I've been told, Severus went to Dumbledore instead. He's a spy on the death eaters, and the fact that he knew I wasn't dead will prove to be a tough situation for him to get out of."

Hermione gasped as realization hit her.

"Will he be killed?" she asked fearfully. I shook my head. Severus was good at slipping out of these situations, right? He wouldn't be killed, and certainly not on my behalf. Right?

"I don't think so, but he will be in danger for some time. Do you have an owl? I don't doubt that he has already thought of this, but it wouldn't hurt to tell him, nonetheless." I was lying, and I knew it. It was very likely that Severus would be killed. This was something I hated to have had done to me when I was young, but I could not tell her that Severus would most likely be discovered as a spy. If he was… Then he'd wish for death. As much as I would have liked to believe that he would worm his way out, I knew that the Dark Lord would be able to read the truth from Pettigrew's feeble mind. Hermione didn't know me well enough to call my lie, but she knew something was up when I changed the subject so quickly. After all, while I had been avoiding telling them what happened to me under the Willow, I had tried to shift the conversation to Pettigrew more than once. Still, though, Hermione answered me,

"I don't." I frowned, wanting to warn Severus, even though I hadn't been lying when I said he would have already thought of everything I could tell him. I would have to wait for him to write to me.

"Okay. I'll have to wait for him to contact me." Hermione frowned at me, looking remorseful. I think she could tell that I was playing down the amount of danger he was in. The amount of danger we were all in. Pettigrew left all of us hanging from cliff. There was only the ground far beneath us and no easy way back up.

I knew that Severus would contact me soon. He knew the danger we were both in. Maybe, if need be, he may even go so far as to put some wards up around the house. Though, maybe not, magic in a muggle settlement as this would be looked at by the Ministry. There was no doubt that old death eaters – Malfoy - would see them. That was the last thing Severus needed right now.

Merlin, I need a wand. On the lake, when I woke Sirius, it had felt so strange in my hand. Still, though, I needed to be able to protect both Hermione and myself, if need be. Plus, I needed a good amount of practice to get my skills up once more. Could I even remember most of the spells I once knew? When I thought of my time as a death eater, only three spells shone out in my mind. I hoped that, when a wand was in my hand once again, I would remember once again. After all, how could I forget? Magic was my life those many years ago, my soul, my everything. I could feel it pulse through me, leave my hand and surge through my wand. It would flash out with color and power. How I had loved it, cherished it, yet, took it for granted. I believed, at one point, that it made me special, better, than the muggles out there. That was wrong. Did I ever truly understand? No. It took me many years of treachery against others for me to finally realize how wrong I truly was.

Realizing I had stood there silently in front of Hermione for too long of a time, I murmured,

"Sorry. I suppose I'll just sleep on your couch?" Hermione nodded, concern for me shining in her eyes. She showed me the way to her living room; we were lucky it was so late and her parents were no longer awake. Then she showed me the bathroom. I bid her goodnight, and she went up the stairs.

Standing in front of the mirror in her bathroom, for the first time, I noticed how terrible I looked. My face was gaunt, though not as bad as Sirius', and my eyes were haunted. I was thin, my stress showing through. My hair was much more knotted than I had ever allowed it to become. At school, it had always been tied into a low ponytail, casual, but befitting for the true Black heir. It all seemed so pointless now. Sighing, I walked back to the couch, not wanting to sleep just yet.

Severus was in danger because of me. It was my story that put him in danger. Why hadn't I hid his involvement? That was an easy question; we weren't expecting Pettigrew to escape. I let out a bitter, quiet laugh. I always seemed to mess everything up. Why? Transforming into a cat, I felt my emotions fade slightly. That made it easier.

Heart heavy, I retired for the night.

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A few days later, late at night, an owl arrived from Severus. Relieved, though still guilty, I tore it open. I frowned as I noticed it was addressed to 'Crookshanks.' Still, that was a smart idea; I was in a bit less danger than Sirius was, but it was still great. As always, Severus had no preamble. There was no 'How are you?' or anything like that. Short and sweet – or sour, as it was from Severus - it stated that he recognized the problem Pettigrew posed. Severus planned on telling the Dark Lord – if, Merlin forbid, he returned – that he was young, and he still had false feelings of what he thought to be true friendship. By the time he recognized that there was no thing as friendship, only power, he assumed – as he did not know of my Animagus form – that I was either long dead or not worth finding. As for the Horcrux that I had so stupidly told everyone about, he would say that he believed it to be the rambling of an insane person. After all, I had been stammering on about dead people and water at the same time.

It could work, though, not without heavy punishment. Of course with punishment. The Dark Lord had always been big on punishment. Even the Dark Mark burned like hell. It was all a test of loyalty, or so he said.

As I sat, beginning my response, I wasn't paying attention to the things around me. Pondering my response, I first stirred as I heard a sharp gasp.

It was Hermione's mother. After a moment of only staring at me, openmouthed, while I did the same, she screamed,

"David!" There was a muffled thump, and after a moment, the sound of feet on the stairs. A light was switched on, and I blinked in the sudden brightness.

"Who are you?" the man demanded, seeing me. I opened my mouth; then closed it again, unsure as to if I should tell the truth.

"I'm going to call the police," Hermione's mother said shakily. Police? I'd never heard the term before. However, I knew it couldn't be a good thing. Finally, I found my voice,

"No! Er… Can you just get Hermione for me?" Hermione's father's face was shocked.

"It's the middle of the night! How'd you get in here?" Concealing a small and inappropriate smile, I said,

"Magic." Immediately, both muggles froze.

"_Oh_!" Hermione's mum gasped. "Is something wrong?" I suppose they thought I needed to tell Hermione something. Once again, I repeated,

"Could you just get Hermione for me?" Her parents looked at each other, and then back at me. Finally, her father nodded and set up the stairs. After a moment, Hermione came down them, her face pale, eyes angry. I winced; it was easy to see what was coming.

"Honestly! It's been three days! And you've already…" Hermione trailed off as she noticed both her parents staring at her.

"H – Hermione?" her mum questioned.

"Oh… I guess you want an explanation?" Hermione seemed to plead with her parents to answer no, but both only nodded dumbly, wondering why their teenage daughter had a man over twice her age living in their house.

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**I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update! Especially after promising it out by Friday! I hit massive writer's block with all of my stories! I also have another excuse! I have recently been obsessed with Lord of the Rings! When I went to write my dialogue, I began to write it like they do in LotR without even noticing it! **

**Originally, the line, "Sorry. I suppose I'll just sleep on your couch?" was**

"**Forgive me. Should I take my rest on your couch?" **

**I didn't realize until I proofread it, so that took a couple days to fix… I can be such an idiot sometimes…**

**Still, though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! **

**Please read and review! For those I have yet to review for the points system, I will do them soon!**


	14. Deception

I stood, eyes wide, glancing between Hermione and her parents. Once… Twice… Three times… My mind was whirling about what I could say. There was nothing to say! '_Oh yeah… I was your teenage daughter's cat… that slept in her bed… in your house… and while at school…'_ Yeah, that was a great way to get Hermione's parents to completely ostracize anything that had to do with the Wizarding World.

"Er…" I begin. It wasn't safe to give them my real name. That would put them in danger! Merlin, this is certainly a rock and a hard place if I ever saw one. Everything was against me, and the longer I lingered, the more suspicious they became. Apparently, I was silent for too long, for a voice broke into my desperate musing.

"Who are you?" Hermione's father demanded. Biting my lip, I blurted out,

"I'm Remus Lupin!" It sounded… slightly believable… Right?It didn't sound like I was completely lying. Apparently, her parents decided to go with it. I saw Hermione from the corner of my eyes. She was looking at me with disbelief and shock. She had not been expecting that. In truth, neither had I.

"_Lupin…"_ her father muttered, "You were her old professor?" I nodded, swallowing hard but discretely. Come on Pureblood mask! Don't fail me now! Carefully, I willed my expression into a small, polite smile. It didn't matter that I looked nothing like Lupin. After all, they had never seen him.

"Yes. I came here because…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Why?" Hermione's mother asked. She was too trusting. I could see it in her eyes. She was relieved when I said I was an old professor. Was it because Hermione didn't contradict me? If she trusted me because of that, then she would never make it far in our world. With so many spells – many of which I had learned with a fervor – for deceit, trust was hard to give and even harder to gain. Or at least it should be.

"Because you're in danger," I said, forcing my voice to be calm. It had startled me terribly to have them interrupt me. That's why I am not at my best. I just wasn't ready… Besides, I was already under a mile of stress. With the Death Eaters and Sirius and me and the Dark Lord, I'm surprised I can still even think!

"What do you mean?" Hermione's father insisted. Reluctantly, I answered.

"Has Hermione told you of the war being fought in our world?" Her parents looked shocked.

"_Hermione!"_ her mother said with a gasp. "You told us the war was over!"

"I thought it was," Hermione said with a small voice. I spoke again.

"The Dark Lord – Voldemort – took many er… liberties to make himself immortal. He was close to succeeding when he was 'killed.' Now he grows stronger once again." Hermione's father looked at me with wide eyes.

"Immortal!" he wheezed, shocked. "But – but that's impossible." I looked straight into his eyes, and he flinched back slightly. Huh. Apparently, I'm a bit intimidating.

"It was only a few years ago when you believed the same for things your daughter has long proven true."

"So what has happened?" Hermione's mother asked, fearfully.

"He is not to full strength, nor has he been able to return to his body. Still, though, his influence is strong and his followers are continuously searching." I am quite proud for being able to create this story. However, as much as I would wish to deny it, most was true anyway.

"Why does this involve us?" her father questioned.

"Mere days ago, Hermione helped in the capture of one of his followers. Then the Death Eater escaped. We believe he has gone to the Dark Lord. Hermione was there, as was I."

"Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked, "Why did you come now? Why not wait until morning?" Thank you, Hermione! That would help convince her parents a lot!

"The danger is small as of now, but as soon as it grows, I will be one of those the Dark Lord wants. I do not dare to travel on the streets during day. You are safe, Hermione. I have been placing certain wards – protective spells – around the house. You will be fine."

"Why did you not come and tell us!"

"I did not wish to worry you, sir. The threat is slight, a small chance that he will even try to find you, Hermione. I thought you would rather be ignorant, yet safe. Now, you are knowing and safe, but you also fear. However, I did inform Hermione. She knew I was here, and I have been for a few days, warding the house."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said quietly.

"You are welcome, Hermione. I must leave. It was a pleasure teaching you, Hermione. It's too bad I will not be able to return again…"

"You're not coming back!" Hermione exclaimed. Of course, she already knew Lupin wouldn't be returning. This was just her helping me out of a bad situation.

"No. I'm sorry, Hermione, but I will not be teaching you again." Slowly, I rose and bade Mr. and Mrs. Granger goodbye. As soon as I walked out the door, I changed into Crookshanks. As I did, a wave of exhaustion hit me. Oh Merlin, I was tired. I had not slept at all this night, and it was well past two A.M. I yawned once and laid down to rest for a moment. I wanted the entire Granger family back in bed before I allowed myself to stop straining my ears to hear them. It would be almost impossible for muggles to make the connection between Crookshanks and I, but I'd rather not take the chance. Lying down, I rested my eyes for only a moment, feeling the warm breeze rake my carefully groomed fur.

Then I promptly fell asleep on the doorstep.

It seemed like only mere minutes after that Hermione stormed out and almost tripped over me. I jerked awake, my body tensing even as a large amount of weariness grew in me. Merlin, when had I fallen asleep? One look at Hermione and I knew she was angry. Very angry. Furious, even.

"Regulus!" she hissed. "Three days! That's all it took for you to be caught! Three days!" I, of course, couldn't answer. Instead, I just looked up at her and gave the cat equivalent to a sheepish smile. Usually, I would feel insulted, but there was no denying that this entire incident was my fault. If I had been paying attention, then I would have never been caught. It was as simple as that.

"Come on! And don't you dare change back again! Even if it is the middle of the night!" Hermione's voice rose slightly, and for a moment, I wondered if she realized she was standing there, outside, in public, yelling at a cat. Probably not. Hermione would be mortified if she did realize. However, as she er… rebuked me, I could see the point in her words. I had been foolhardy and paid the price for it. It was a miracle that the Grangers believed my terrible story. Just the fact that I hesitated before saying it should have been a warning! Of course, they did not realize that. Then again, they never lived through a war, any war, let alone a magical one, and they didn't understand what it was like. I snorted. Saying it like that made me seem so old. Well, that long time ago when the Dark Lord… The problem is, it has both been forgotten too much, yet remembered too much. Everyone who believed the Dark Lord to be dead was forgetting his strength. Yet, the old death eaters remembered it with a scary clarity. When he returned, they would come back to him, and he would be even stronger than before.

It was a scary thought, truthfully. After all, the Dark Lord was powerful – too powerful – before he fell. To imagine him even stronger… It made it hard to imagine winning this war at all. So much has changed since then. There were so many things I took as constants… Now, they are all gone. Leon was one of them. It still hurt. Badly. Every time I said his name… It felt as if a hole was opened – though, it was never truly closed – and began to bleed. We had been inseparable from the day we met. What first started out as a childish friendship only grew as we entered Hogwarts. Through joy and sorrow… Through mystery and deception… We stuck together. He was as James Potter was to my brother. Leon was the one who I would want around when I wished to be alone. He had been the one to laugh with me – and occasionally, at me – when I broke out of the Hospital Wing. It was Leon that had held me together after I joined the death eaters, and I had been broken. He helped me collect the pieces before anyone else noticed, least of all the Dark Lord.

If only I could have done the same. Leon was my friend – no, more than that (though not in a creepy way.) Sometimes I wondered if I was just a bit stronger and had waited for only a couple more weeks before faking my death… Would he have lived? I can still remember his laugh, his smile… It tore me up inside. Did he think that if only I had been there, he could have lived? Was it my fault?

Was all of this my fault?

I have put Hermione in danger, just because of my mere presence in her house.

The Dark Lord was alerted that his biggest secret was known because of Pettigrew's escape. I wasn't thinking; that much was clear. To talk about my story so freely… I was an idiot. There was no other way of saying it. And I regret it. Deeply.

Severus was in danger because of me! The Dark Lord, if he learns of a traitor, unspeakable things will be done. He will learn of it, too. It was clear the "Marauders" kept their old animosity of Severus. My brother still had it… Lupin still didn't like him, though he was more professional with it. Pettigrew… Was there no reason to believe the same? Besides, the coward would do anything to keep on the Dark Lord's good side. If he had a good side. I suppose a better way of saying would be to keep from being on his bad side.

I hurt Sirius. Why? I'm one more thing for him to worry about. As much as we both tried to deny it as teenagers, we still cared about each other. Even though we'd been through so much. Both of us… The more he worried; the more he'd be careless, and that was the last thing he can be.

Blinking my eyes with a loud sigh, I left the doorway, going the opposite way as Hermione had. Then I curled up on her couch and closed my eyes once again.

There was nothing I could do. As least until she left for Hogwarts once again. It will be a _long_ vacation for me.

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**Hi guys! Thank you for so many reviews on the last chapter! They inspired me enough that I just had to post this one early! (Even though I ignored "In His Eyes" because of it… Sorry 'bout that for anyone reading both.)**

**Last night I went to the tobyMac concert! It was amazing!  
**

**So, tell me what you think. How was my bit of angst in this chapter? Hermione's parent's reactions? Did they seem to trusting? I was trying to show how different the world was as compared to what Regulus grew up in. Did I succeed? **

**Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! I own the fictional oxygen that the book characters breath in! Even though it doesn't exist… and if it did, then I wouldn't own it…**

**Next up: Uh oh! It's GoF time! They're going back to Hogwarts! (I'll have to reread that book again…)**

**Until next time (which may be for a while, I have one extremely busy week of school before Christmas break, but I'm going to California for it, soo…)**


	15. Gnomes and News

The summer was uneventful, until Hermione received an owl telling her the Weasleys had invited her to the Quidditch Cup. Ah… Quidditch… I missed it. It had been years since I played, no, since I even watched a game. Although, until now I had not thought of it. I suppose other things had much more urgency to them, like, I don't know, the upcoming war? However, it still felt nice to hear of the things that used to matter so much to me. In fact, I could remember rejoicing rather wildly when Slytherin beat Gryffindor in Sirius' seventh year. Oh yes… It used to matter to me so much. I had learned soon enough with the Death Eaters that things like that no longer mattered. So, against my will, my love for simple things was purged and destroyed, becoming wounds left to fester for years.

I wanted to go, and so, I tried to convey my thoughts to Hermione.

"What?" she asked sounding a bit annoyed as I got her attention. I waved my tail frantically. Luckily, Hermione understand; Merlin knows how.

"No!" she screeched loudly. "You cannot come!"

"Hermione?" her father's voice floated up to the room. He sounded concerned. "Are you alright, honey?"

"I'm fine," Hermione called down, her face growing red. I sent her my equivalent of a smirk. She noticed and frowned at me. I did my best to look innocent and of course, failed miserably.

"You can't come, Regulus!" she whispered harshly. I looked up to her, my question clear.

'Why not?' Hermione growled quietly and said,

"There will be so many people there! How will you hide?" Really? Really? Of all the stupid questions to ask! I looked at my cat body pointedly.

"But – but Pettigrew knew you can transform into a cat! The death eaters will know!" They wouldn't be there. Without thinking, I tried to tell Hermione that, but all that came out of my mouth was a exasperated meow. Well, at least it wasn't a hairball.

"They might be there!" Hermione said, apparently reading my mind. That's a bit creepy.

Then again, it would be worse for her. She'd be the one entering my mind. _My_ mind. That could be Voldemort's new method of torture.

Actually, I'm thinking that might be too cruel even for Voldemort. Unexpectedly, I laughed, making a strange purring sound that Hermione certainly recognized by now.

She rolled her eyes.

"You aren't coming, Regulus. That's final." I stiffened and quit laughing. Then, ignoring the risks, something I do way too much (Sirius has gotten to me over the years; I've gradually lost all my feelings for self-preservation and cautiousness,) I transformed into a man.

Ignoring Hermione's annoyed look, I said,

"Really? Do you really think you can order me to stay here?" Hermione looked at me carefully, biting her lip.

"Regulus, please stay here! It won't be safe –" she pleaded. I interrupted.

"It'll be safe as long as I'm in my cat form. It will be fine." I could tell that I was winning Hermione over. She was starting to think I was right. Sure, enough, after a few more moments of thought, she answered.

"All right. But you can't change back while we're there. And you shouldn't have changed back now!"

I grinned and transformed back, ignoring Hermione as she began to list the things I'd need to do for safety. She could tell I was ignoring her but listing the facts was helping her to calm down. Hermione needed to say them.

"The Weasley's are coming in three days. I better go and ask my mum." Hermione left the room, and I grinned, happy that I had gotten what I wanted. After a few minutes, Hermione came back.

"We can go. And in the letter, the Weasley's suggested that I can just stay with them until school starts after that. So I guess that either way, you'd be coming."

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Three days later, I was at the Weasley's house. It isn't really my favourite place. There are too many people running around. Too many feet to step on tails and the likes. So, I spent most of my time in the garden, which was, unfortunately, infested with gnomes.

Gnomes hate cats. I don't do anything to them, but they have some deep hatred of me. They always have. The garden at Grimmauld Place had been infested with them. Of course, over the summer before sixth or seventh year Leon had a field day when I had been bitten by one.

Warily, I glanced over my shoulder. It was too quiet. Those damn creatures had been following me around the whole time I was in the garden.

I let out a yowl as one jumped on my back from behind me. Running and trying to shake it off, I let out another yowl when it bit me. That was enough for it to let go. As soon as it landed, it started to tear off across the yard, giggling madly.

I followed it, racing after. I could feel my… ahem… terrible wound stinging as I did. Following the gnome closely (Was it sad that something potato-sized could outrun me?), I ran past Harry, Ron, and Hermione, hearing a few snippets of conversation.

"Where's Crookshanks?"

"In the gard-" Hermione's voice had cut off when I streaked by. I couldn't hear Ron or Harry's answer. Chasing the gnome, I followed it up to the door to the burrow. Unfortunately, for the gnome, Molly Weasley was standing right there. She was holding a broom – who knows what for.

When she spotted the gnome, she let out a yell.

"Disgusting creature! You will not come into my house!" Then she took the broomstick and smacked it down on the gnome, sending him flying out of the doorway. My jaw dropped in awe. The gnome fell to the ground and scurried off, but my chase was forgotten. I had never expected Molly Weasley to do that.

Pretty damn impressive for a woman in her mid-forties.

After the gnome was taken care of, she turned to me. Shocked, I could feel my tail begin to bristle as she yelled.

"Don't you dare chase those things into the house!" I scurried away before she could use the broom on me, going towards the garden. The same way the gnome went.

Before I got to the gardens, Harry, Ron, and Hermione motioned me over.

"Hermione says that you want to come to the Quidditch match?" Harry asked. I nodded.

"Don't you get how dangerous it is, Regulus!" Hermione burst out desperately.

"Calm down, Hermione," Ron said a slight bit harshly. I gathered that it wasn't the first time she had exclaimed that. "If he stays hidden, then there will be no problem."

"I think so, too," Harry said. "Pettigrew won't be there, and there will be no else that recognizes him."

"Fine," Hermione huffed. "I still think that it's a mistake." Slowly, we wandered back towards the Burrow. When we got there, two of the Weasleys (I can't remember their names) were levitating tables and crashing them into each other. The object was to knock one out of the air.

I held back a grin as I watched. That was something Sirius and one of his friends would do. Of course, if they had, and I'd been there, I would have-

"WILL YOU KEEP IT DOWN OUT THERE!" another Weasley brother – Percy? – bellowed.

I would have done that. Looks like Percy and I have something in common.

"Sorry, Perce," one of the brothers said. "How's the cauldron bottom's coming along?" Percy grimaced back.

"Very badly," he said and with a huff, went back to work.

At dinner, Molly Weasley wouldn't let me have any (and she's supposed to be the person that makes you eat more,) and I heard Percy talking about his assignments from the Minister. He was blabbing on and on about how important of a job it was.

Scratch that. We're nothing alike.

Then, something strange was mentioned. Bertha Jorkins had gone missing. She was three years ahead of me in school. Bertha had been a Hufflepuff, and while she had a good heart, she had no brains. At all.

In fact, when she did something particularly stupid once at dinner, I remember thinking that it would be better if she didn't have a head at all. After all, what she didn't have in brains, she certainly didn't have in looks.

It didn't make sense, though.

The one thing her pathetically small brain was good for was gossip. From what Percy said, she was extremely forgetful. That didn't make sense at all.

She'd once caught me snogging Liza Travers. It had been all over the school in record time.

Of course, Liza thought that I'd been bragging about it, so Jorkins had a new thing to gossip about soon after that.

That was the end of that relationship.

I waited until the end of dinner, lost in my musings. Finally, even though I was no closer to an answer, Molly Weasley sent the kids up to bed. I followed.

Of course, I was sleeping with Harry and Ron. So, I curled up quickly in their room.

Tomorrow the Portkey was coming.

**Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. I'll try to do better from now on.**

**Please review and thanks to all my reviewers.  
**

**I wanted to say that if anyone is interested in my original work, then go to  
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**So, bye guys. Next chapter is the World Cup.  
**


	16. The Portkey

I groaned as I felt a foot poke me.

"Oi, Regulus," someone whispered. I blinked open my eyes slowly. Harry stood before me, dressed and ready to leave their room. I yawned, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep again. Instead, I stood, stretching out luxuriously. Merlin, I was tired. Glancing around, I saw that Ron and his twin brothers were also getting dressed, looking more asleep than awake.

As I watched, one of the twins felt for his shirt with bleary eyes and grabbed a pair of trousers instead. Apparently, he didn't notice, because he began trying to stick his arms through the leg holes. Ron looked at him and turned away again. Okay, so he either decided that the twin was hopeless or was too tired to notice what was wrong.

Eventually, the twin realized why it wasn't working and replaced the trousers with a shirt. So, only a couple minutes after that, they all piled downstairs, still bleary-eyed. I followed, careful to walk behind them just in case one of them fell down the stairs.

When I got down there, Mr. Weasley was asking Harry about his clothes. He was concerned that they weren't 'incognito.' Then they all sat down to eat. I slipped over to Hermione, who seemed to be the only kid truly awake. She gave me a couple pieces of bacon.

As I happily ate my breakfast, the Weasleys got into a talk about Apparation. I could remember getting my license. I had – of course – done it on my first time. Leon had got it too. However, Severus was a different story altogether. He had – to our great amusement – apparated without his hair. If you thought Severus Snape looked funny with his greasy, oily hair, then you should have seen him without it.

Of course, he was extremely mad at us when we burst out laughing. We had continued to laugh, ignoring his swears and death threats, because we knew he was more embarrassed than angry. Severus was pissed at us for a long time for that. A very long time.

However, seeing him completely bald was so worth it.

I was shaken out of my memories when Mrs. Weasley began yelling.

"Accio! Accio!" Bright colored wrappers flew from the twin's pockets. They were howling as if in physical pain. What were those things? One fell to the floor, and I walked over curiously. As I sniffed it, Hermione noticed and poked me with her foot.

"Trust me," she whispered. "You really don't want to." I nodded. Sometimes it's better not to ask questions.

After Mrs. Weasley was done tearing the twins apart for having those, the others were finally ready to leave. I followed them, hoping no one – other than those who already knew I was going – would notice. Unfortunately, Mr. Weasley did.

"Hermione?" he questioned, politely and curiously, "Why is Crookshanks coming?"

"Oh!" Hermione squeaked. Merlin, she was a terrible liar. "I just thought that – y'know…"

"She thought that he'd enjoy it," Harry burst out.

"He's a cat," one of the twins – was it George? – said scathingly. It was clear that they were still in bad moods over the candies.

"Besides," Hermione said more calm now, "he doesn't like being away from me. In fact, he hasn't been since I got him."

"Alright," Mr. Weasley said reluctantly. "I don't see why not. Just keep an eye on him. The last thing you want is to lose him there."

"I know," Hermione said gratefully. It was clear that she was glad that her terrible lie had gone over well.

"There's going to be over a 100,000 people there, after all!" Mr. Weasley said.

"Yeah, you've told us," George said in a melancholy tone.

I hardly noticed as the ground tilted upward, but within minutes, I began to feel my legs burning. Huffing and puffing, I continued on, noticing that everyone else was breathing heavily, too.

Suddenly, as I put a paw on a black tuft of grass, it slipped and I banged my chin off the ground. Wincing, I stood again, noticing that everyone else was also having trouble staying steady on the hill.

There were a lot of rabbit holes, too. Those, however, were drenched in rabbits' stench. I could detect them; though, everyone else had trouble.

When I finally made it up the hill, perfectly in line with Hermione – who was clutching a stitch in her side – I flopped down on the grass, breathing heavily. Trying to catch my breath, I waited for one of the others to find the Portkey. Then, there was a yell. Jumping up in surprise, I saw a figure not six meters away from me.

"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!" There was another figure standing beside the first. I scrambled over, trying not to slip on the grass. The others followed after Mr. Weasley called,

"Amos!" in a delighted voice.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," Mr. Weasley said. The man – who had a scruffy graying beard and was holding an old boot – nodded in greeting. Amos Diggory. He'd been out of Hogwarts by the time that I entered it. Still, though, I knew he'd been head boy and a Hufflepuff. Nott's parents were furious about that; in their eyes, Nott should have been head boy.

I thought that was stupid. Who in their right mind would make someone nearly expelled for fighting head boy? Of course, Nott's family hadn't seen it that way. All they'd seen was 'that bloodtraitor, Dumbledore' giving another title away to another bloodtraitor who clearly wasn't the best choice.

It was the same for Bellatrix when she graduated. She certainly hadn't been head girl – or a prefect for that matter. I couldn't blame Dumbledore for that one – even back then. She was downright crazy and always had been. I'd never faced the full-force of her anger. No, that had always been reserved for Sirius. And I was glad about that. I was no Gryffindor; she scared the hell out of me.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Diggory exclaimed,

"Merlin's beard! Harry? Harry Potter?" I could see that Harry was annoyed with the attention already. Diggory didn't notice.

"Er – yeah," Harry said in a voice that clearly said he didn't want to be in that situation.

"Ceds talked about you, of course," Diggory went on to say. I glanced at the boy beside him – his son most likely. "Told us all about playing against you last year. I said to him, I said –Ced that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will! You beat Harry Potter!"

He seemed really full of himself – was he really or was he just too stupid to realize how he sounded? He had been a Hufflepuff, after all. It was clear that Harry had no idea how to respond. Fred and George were slowly turning red.

I looked at Diggory's kid. He looked surprisingly embarrassed.

"Harry fell off his broom, dad. I told you… it was an accident," he muttered. He glanced at Harry once in apology before dropping his gaze to the ground.

"Yes," Diggory said, waving his hand submissively. "You didn't fall off, did you? Always modest, our Ced, always a gentleman… but the best man won, I'm sure Harry would say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need a genius to tell which one's the better flier!" Harry looked down, not saying anything. I bet he had no idea what to say. Mr. Weasley broke the awkward silence.

"Must be nearly time," Mr. Weasley said. "Yes, it's a minute off… We'd better get ready…" Diggory nodded and placed the Portkey on the ground.

"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will –"

"Why's that cat here?" Diggory interrupted, looking at me. I forced my fur to stick up angrily. He, obliviously, bent down to pet me. I glared at him and hissed. It was too disgusting to imagine biting him – I didn't want that fool's hand in my mouth. Who knows, maybe stupid is contagious? Then again, if that was true, then I'd be unintelligent because of Sirius.

I'm not brainless, right? Reckless, maybe but brainless. No. Then again…

I shook my head, stopping my traitorous thoughts.

Hermione was blushing; she probably tried to lie and failed miserable as per usual.

"Yes," she squeaked. "He's my pet."

"Alright then," Diggory said, his voice doubtful.

"We'd better get ready. We don't want it to leave without us! I'll hold Crookshanks," Mr. Weasley said.

He picked me up and placed a finger on the Portkey. Everyone else did the same.

"Three, two, one…" Mr. Weasley muttered. Then something seemed to pull at me. I had used countless Portkeys before but never in my cat form. I didn't mean too, but I clawed at Mr. Weasley's arm.

_Please don't drop me. Please don't drop me. Please don't drop me…_

As we hit the ground, I fell to the floor as Mr. Weasley let go. Milliseconds later, Ron fell on top of me.

The air whooshed out of me. I tried to shift my body and was unable to. Ow…

I was going to be nice and bruised tomorrow…

I hissed when Ron didn't move.

_Get off of me, you great lump! Damn kid!_

After a moment, he did move, and I laid there, catching my breath.

We had arrived at the Quidditch World Cup.

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**Hey, guys. You have to say – I didn't do too bad this time. It's only been five days.**

**Thanks to all my reviewers.**

**Please review, all feedback is good feedback! Plus, it really does inspire me to write faster.**

**By the way: I have promised to finish this fic! I will! Don't worry! It will not be abandoned!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.  
**

**On how reckless Regulus is: **

**I think that he tried to persuade the hat towards Slytherin. After all, he really didn't want to be a bloodtraitor. Even in the Canon series, he always seemed a bit reckless to me. J.K. Rowling once compared him to Draco Malfoy for being attracted to the Death Eaters but joining before he was ready for it. Also, he willingly went to his death – he told Kreacher to leave him. This seems both reckless and brave to me.**

**Also, being a cat and alone for so long has certainly changed him a bit.**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed this.**


	17. To the Tents

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," a voice said. I glanced up, surprised at the sudden sound. Apparently, so were Harry, Ron, and Hermione because all three visibly jumped. Beside me, Ron stood up, wincing slightly as his bruised body protested.

That's just terrible for him. At least he didn't get crushed by someone at least five or six times his weight. Ron wouldn't be getting any sympathy from me. Harry and Hermione stood, too. I finally turned to look at the man who had spoken.

To my surprise, there were two men. It worried me that I hadn't known that; usually, my amazing cat senses were better than that. I blame Ron for damaging them.

Both men were Ministry idiots – of course – and they both had tried to dress as muggles.

They failed. Miserably.

One man had a damn skirt on with a poncho. The other had a tweed suit with galoshes that were knee-high. I mean, c'mon, even my mother dressed less eccentrically than that. Although, she had never dressed in muggle clothes. Of course not, she had been a Black, and Blacks are just so much better than muggles.

"Morning, Basil," Mr. Weasley said, nodding at him. Basil Purkiss. Of course it was him. I hadn't recognized him because he had – ah – gained a _slight_ bit of weight since I had last seen him.

He also gained a surprisingly large amount of extra chins. I grinned as I looked at him. Leon and I had pranked the Hufflepuff multiple times, and as with any prank we pulled, the blame was always put on the Marauders.

In fact, there had been one time where we had transfigured his quill into a kitten during the middle of a Transfiguration class. Not only had McGonagall _not_ been amused, he also had been half asleep and had a bad habit of chewing on the end of his quill.

The cat had _not_ been amused when he attempted to chew on its tail. It had scratched his face, and he had moaned about it for days, saying how it would scar. It didn't, of course; Madam Pomphrey was too skilled to allow that to happen.

"Hello there, Arthur," Purkiss began, running a hand over his thinning hair. "Not on duty, eh? It's all right for some… We've been here all – Is that a cat?"

"Yes," Mr. Weasley said, mystified.

"I hate cats," Purkiss declared, frowning. I tried to stifle my chuckles, making me sound like I had a bad cold and was sniffling.

"Mr. Basil, I think you offended him," Hermione said. My snuffled became quite a bit louder.

"It's a damn cat – and I'm sure it's out to get me," Purkiss said. "They always are." He looked closer.

"No! It's _the _cat! That beast tortured me at school! It followed me everywhere. Every time I turned around it would be there, waiting, waiting."

"Mr. Basil are-" Hermione began.

"It never got me, though. You here that, monster! You never got me! I won, and you lost!"

"Mr. Basil, this is my cat, and I can assure you that he's not the cat you are thinking of."

"He is! He is! I can see it in his eyes! That brute's a monster! That swine can be terrifying!"

Did he just call me a pig? That's offensive. I sent him my best cat-glare, and he cowered further.

"Just tell us where our campsite is, Basil," Mr. Weasley said, glancing at Purkiss with concern. I wondered what he was thinking. It was clear that he knew Purkiss well, and I doubted Purkiss said things like that often. Then again, that might be normal in the Ministry – they're all bloody insane anyway.

"Ah, yes, of course," Purkiss said. "Weasley… Weasley… It's about a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts."

"Thanks, Basil," Mr. Weasley said quickly, bidding the Diggorys goodbye and beginning to walk away. I followed, glancing back at Purkiss only to see him staring straight at me.

"Just –" Purkiss said, pleading with us. "Just take that damn fiend with you."

Merlin, I never thought Leon and I screwed him up that badly. I mean, he was always not right in the head, but it was never that bad.

The Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and I walked until we met Mr. Roberts. As was the last time I was at the Quidditch World Cup, Mr. Roberts was a muggle. He appeared a bit more aware than the one I had seen last time. Of course, the last time I had been to the Quidditch World Cup, I had been sixteen.

I had thought the muggle – can't remember his name – had been disgusting, and I had delighted in the way that we wizards controlled him. He was doing work for us, and he didn't even realize.

This time around, I found it a bit repulsive.

Mr. Weasley and Harry dealt with him while I glanced around, trying to get my bearings.

There were a few wizards walking around. Most of them were probably Ministry folk. Everyone else was either still arriving, as we were, or setting up their tents.

After a good amount of time –Mr. Roberts was obliviated because apparently, he knew too much of our world – all of us were on our way to where we had to set up our tent. While walking through the tents that had already been set up, I scoffed at the insane ones (with quite a bit of embarrassment remembering the Black family tent.) One – which I assumed to be the Malfoy's – had several peacocks in the front yard. I, of course, did not know whose tent it was, but Lucius Malfoy had a strange obsession with peacocks.

It sounded insane, but I had once been visiting Cissa at his manor, and I caught him speaking with one.

It was there that I learned that Malfoy thinks that if he was an animal, then he would be a peacock. Apparently, it is because the men are so beautiful that they put even the females to shame. Plus, they can adapt, survive, and are generally annoying. Okay, well, I added that last one, but the rest were his.

I had been concerned for Cissa after that.

She did love him, truly, but he seemed to love himself more than he could ever love her. I know that for a fact he spends more time on fixing his hair in the morning than Cissa does.

I did not understand the reference at the time – he didn't either, but it infuriated him all the same.

It had been a muggle-born first year. The first year had said he looked like "Legolas." Malfoy was disgusted that this kid was even whispering about him and demanded to know what the Hufflepuff meant.

The Hufflepuff said that "Legolas" was an elf in "Lord of the Rings." Malfoy was furious because he thought that he was being compared with House-elves. Course, it never did seem to occur to him that he followed the Dark Lord's every order (cough, cough, house-elf.)

I had read the book as a cat when I was just wandering around. It was lying around, and I was bored.

And let me just say,

Lucius Malfoy, long under foot

In dark though hast lived. Beware of the soot!

For if thou touches the oily black

Then thy golden hair shall never be back**1**

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**Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long! I'm really trying; I'm just busy. Sorry for the LotR reference at the end; I couldn't resist. **

**Yes, I took this from Lord of the Rings. It is really "Legolas Greenleaf, long under tree/ In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the sea!/ For if thy hearest the cry of the gull on the shore/ They heart shall then rest in the forest no more" I do not own this. It's all Tolkein's.**

**Please, vote in my poll: Should I write a LotR fic? If I decide to, then I'll only start it once my life gets less busy. **

**Thanks to all my reviewers and please review. Leave some ideas, please! I'm getting stuck, and I don't exactly know how to fit Regulus into GoF! Tell me your thoughts on this chapter , too! Personally, I don't like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**


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